Devastation in Gaza as Israel wages war on Hamas. Live updates

Some pregnant women in Gaza are discharged one or two hours after delivering their babies and essentially as soon as they can walk after a C-section, said Dr. Amber Alayyan with Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF).

In a briefing Thursday, MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, highlighted the destruction of the women’s health care system in Gaza since Israel started bombarding the strip.

There’s only one hospital available for women to give birth, compared to the many hospitals that were available to them before the war began, said Alayyan, the group’s deputy program manager for the Middle East whose team coordinates activities in Gaza.

“They have maybe an hour to recover after a vaginal delivery and as soon as they can walk they have to get out after a C-section,” she said. “This allows them no time for healing.”

Malnutrition and lack of access to clean water are exacerbating the conditions for these vulnerable women and children, Alayyan added, explaining that many women are not nourished enough to produce breast milk, which puts their babies at risk of malnutrition, too.

Formula is also in short supply. “In order to use formula you need to have clean water, and none of these things are possible in Gaza right now,” Alayyan said.