Pregnant Woman Suffers Stillbirth After Israeli Soldiers Block Ambulance

A pregnant Palestinian woman suffering severe bleeding was forced to deliver a stillborn baby after Israeli soldiers blocked the ambulance she was riding in. 

The woman, 28, was six months pregnant when she began bleeding and experiencing extreme pain last Monday at her home in Qaryout, in the illegally occupied West Bank. 

“Her condition was extremely critical,” the ambulance driver, Bashar Al-Qaryouti, told Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

But as they were on their way to Rafidia hospital in Nablus, soldiers approached the ambulance at a checkpoint with their guns drawn and ordered the medics to shut off the engine. 

This meant Al-Qaryouti had to turn off the woman’s oxygen and the ambulance’s monitors, he told Sky News. The nurse on board then told him she would have to deliver the baby or the woman would die.  

“I shouted at the soldiers and they threatened to shoot me,” he said. “Even the nurse who was with me had a weapon pointed at her head while she was trying to treat the patient.” 

The ambulance was allowed through after being delayed for more than 30 minutes. 

The Israeli military falsely claimed to Sky News that the incident did not take place, despite video footage from inside the ambulance corroborating Al-Qaryouti’s statements. 

Violence by Israeli soldiers and settlers has escalated in the West Bank in recent weeks. UN figures show that over 1,114 Palestinians, including 241 children, have been killed there since October 2023.