RSS
Pregnant Israeli Women at Greater Risk to Complications During Hamas War, Study Finds
The Premature Baby Ward at Shaarei Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem, on Jan. 5, 2015. Photo: Hadas Parush/Flash90.
The number of complications and premature childbirths for women in Israel since the outbreak of the war with Hamas terrorists has increased substantially compared to similar periods in the past, according to a new study.
The research from the Soroka Medical Center, located in the southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva, highlights various impacts on pregnancies — such as early breakage of water and low Apgar scores, a metric to determine the health of the fetus — amid the war in Gaza.
Soroka sees the second most childbirths in Israel. There are an estimated 180,000 pregnant women in Israel today.
The study appears to fit with the mass trauma facing the Israeli public since the outbreak of the war on Oct. 7, when Hams-led terrorists invaded Israel, murdered over 1,200 people, and kidnapped more than 240 others as hostages.
In Israel, a small country roughly the size of the US state of New Jersey, almost everyone knew somebody who was killed — or had a friend or family member who knew someone who was killed — in Hamas’ brutal massacre. This reality, along with constant rockets coming from Gaza and graphic videos of Hamas atrocities circulating on social media, has led mental health professionals to declare that the whole population — the entire country — underwent trauma.
Medical professionals have linked mental health to successful pregnancies, although it’s unclear how precisely the war could be affecting the outcome of pregnancies.
The Soroka hospital conducted a similar study following the 2014 war against Hamas in Gaza and found that women who were pregnant during the fighting and subject to a large number of rocket sirens had a much higher rate of early childbirths and lower child weights.
According to Soroka, there have been a number of documented cases of women having premature births — something that can’t be causally linked to the war but nonetheless can put pregnant women and their children at risk for certain health issues such as stunted growth.
Medical experts in Israel have called for special care and attention to be placed on pregnant women, specifically those in the third trimester of their pregnancy, during the war.
Friday marked the start of a four-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that involved the Palestinian terror group releasing dozens of the civilians it kidnapped. Both sides said the war would resume as soon as the truce was over, although Israel has said it would extent the truce if Hamas released more hostages.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said this week that he expected “at least two months” of additional fighting.
According to Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, nearly 18,000 babies have been born in Israel since Oct. 7, with many of them named after the towns and victims attacked by Hamas that day.
The post Pregnant Israeli Women at Greater Risk to Complications During Hamas War, Study Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.