The offensive in Gaza is having a devastating effect on pregnant women and nursing mothers, with an estimated 50,000 at serious risk due to shortages of food and essential medicines, according to a hospital in central Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

Khalil al-Daqran, spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, said that rates of miscarriage had increased six-fold since the outbreak of the conflict, and been accompanied by a large rise in premature births, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

That had left Gaza’s embattled neonatal units overwhelmed, he said.

Al-Daqran said Israel’s targeting of the healthcare system had brought it to the brink of collapse, with far-reaching impacts on patients in Gaza.

More than 23 hospitals had been put out of action, with those that remained only partly functioning, as a result of major shortages of medical supplies and fuel, he said.

That meant that more than 12,000 cancer patients were left without treatment, resulting in about five deaths a day, while dialysis patients were also dying through a lack of essential treatment.