'I lost my baby': Ambulance delay by Israeli army ends in tragedy for Palestinian mother

When the pain became unbearable, Rana* rushed to a clinic in Qaryut, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, just before dawn on Monday.

After examining the 34-year-old Palestinian mother of two, doctors told her she had gone into premature labour.

She was six months pregnant.

The baby's heartbeat was still strong, so an ambulance was called to take her to Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus.

"I was in severe pain, like labour pains, and I felt exhausted," Rana told Middle East Eye.

"They told me I was in labour. I was fully conscious, and an ambulance was called to take me to the hospital in Nablus."

Under normal circumstances, the journey would have taken about 25 minutes.

Instead, it became a desperate, hours-long journey through Israeli checkpoints and winding back roads as paramedics raced to save both mother and baby.

The delays were caused by a near-total Israeli military lockdown imposed on Nablus and the surrounding towns and villages on Friday.

The army sealed the city's main and secondary entrances, setting up new checkpoints across the area.

The restrictions followed an armed settler attack on the village of Tell, in which four Palestinians were killed. Two Israeli soldiers were also shot dead during the ensuing clashes.

Since then, movement between the villages and the city has been severely restricted.

Residents, including those travelling in ambulances, have been forced to take lengthy detours and wait for hours at Israeli checkpoints.

Held at Awarta

Rana's ordeal was one of many medical emergencies disrupted by the lockdown.

The ambulance was forced to take a lengthy detour via the Awarta checkpoint, southeast of Nablus, to reach the city's hospitals.

By then, Rana's condition had deteriorated sharply. As the foetus began to emerge, she suffered heavy bleeding, lost consciousness and turned deathly pale.

When the ambulance reached the checkpoint, Israeli soldiers shouted at the driver for using the siren and flashing lights and ordered him to switch them off.

'They pointed their weapons at me and ordered me to be quiet'

- Sabreen Mohsen, Palestinian nurse 

The nurse travelling with Rana, Sabreen Mohsen, recalled the moments when she feared her patient would die.

"I saw that Rana had lost consciousness, her lips had turned white, and her oxygen level had dropped to 80," Mohsen said.

"I put her on oxygen and started an IV to replace the blood she had lost while we waited to reach the hospital."

The soldiers continued shouting before refusing to let the ambulance through.

They then ordered the driver to switch off the engine, cutting off Rana's oxygen supply as she lay in critical condition.

As the baby's heartbeat weakened and Rana's condition deteriorated, the ambulance remained stranded at the checkpoint.

"They came to the ambulance, opened the doors, checked all of us, and asked about Rana. I told them in English she needed to be taken to the hospital urgently and that it was an emergency miscarriage," Mohsen said.

"They pointed their weapons at me and ordered me to be quiet."

'I lost my baby'

For 45 minutes, the ambulance was held at the Awarta checkpoint as Rana fought for her life and her baby slipped away.

The soldiers approached the vehicle again. Mohsen hoped they had finally come to let the ambulance through.

Instead, they demanded to check everyone's identity cards.

'I felt a deep sorrow when they told me I had lost my child'

- Rana, Palestinian mother

Only after the prolonged delay, with Rana's life hanging in the balance, was the ambulance allowed to continue. By the time it reached Rafidia hospital, her baby had died.

Rana was given two units of blood and underwent emergency surgery to stop the bleeding and complete the miscarriage.

She woke several hours later, unaware of what had happened.

"I felt a deep sorrow when they told me I had lost my child," she told MEE.

"I was waiting for his arrival, choosing names, and preparing to buy his clothes," she added.

"This is our fate, to live in these conditions."

Due to the Israeli closures and the difficulty of travelling, she asked her husband and their two children to remain at home in Qaryut, even though they desperately wanted to be by her side.

"If they treat an ambulance like this and prevent it from passing, what would they do to a regular car?" she said.

Healthcare under attack 

In a brief statement on Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said the Israeli army had been obstructing its crews at military checkpoints surrounding Nablus since Friday, preventing kidney dialysis patients from outside the city from reaching the hospital.

Physicians for Human Rights said the ambulance network around Nablus had been almost completely paralysed. At least two women had given birth in ambulances, while another was forced to deliver at a clinic in the town of Aqraba. In a separate incident, an ambulance transporting a patient was turned back after soldiers denied it passage through a checkpoint.

Alia Awad, 28, is among the many women who have been denied passage through Israeli checkpoints despite being in labour.

Her brother, Ahmed Awad, said she began experiencing severe contractions at her home in the village of Beit Furik, east of Nablus. She and her husband drove to the village entrance, believing soldiers would allow them through because she was in labour.

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Instead, they refused to open the iron gate and ordered Alia to get out of the car and walk about 50m on her own, passing beneath the gate to reach an ambulance waiting on the other side.

"My sister was in labour. If she'd been delayed any longer, she would have given birth at the checkpoint," Ahmed said. "She has been in hospital since Saturday, and her baby is in an incubator. God saved them."

Israeli restrictions on movement and repeated lockdowns have been a defining feature of the occupation of the West Bank for decades.

However, attacks on medical teams have increased in recent years.

Mohsen said she has encountered many incidents during her 12 years as a nurse, but described Rana's case as the most harrowing.

Seven months ago, she was forced to deliver a baby in the back of an ambulance at the Qusra checkpoint, south of Nablus, after Israeli soldiers prevented the mother from reaching the hospital.

"Settlers have also attacked us at least twice by throwing stones," she said. "There were other vehicles on the road, but they deliberately targeted the ambulance."

According to the World Health Organization, at least 233 attacks on healthcare in the occupied West Bank were recorded in 2025. Of the incidents involving 165 ambulances, 84 percent included obstruction of access, such as delays at checkpoints, ambulance searches, harassment of medical staff and restrictions on their movement. 

A further 53 attacks were recorded between January and June this year.

*Name changed at the request of the woman, who preferred not to reveal her real identity