More than 50,000 women are pregnant in Gaza, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with an estimated 160 women giving birth every day.
A further 73,000 women are reported to be pregnant in the West Bank with more than 8,000 expected to give birth within the next month, the UNFPA said.
"This is a catastrophe," Soraida Hussein-Sabbah, a gender and advocacy specialist with charity ActionAid, told Katie Hannon on Upfront: The Podcast.
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A lack of access to basic medical services and pre and antenatal care is of particular concern for both pregnant women and new mothers, according to Ms Hussein-Sabbah who is based in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank.
"It's very worrying to know where these women are going to give birth? When she gives birth, then it is a clean place? Is it a safe place? How is she going to breastfeed and she's not eating and she's not drinking water?" Ms Hussein-Sabbah said.
"These women have to run from place to place. Many of them have left their place where they seek to be sheltered twice, maybe three times. They are very worried because they have also small children," Ms Hussein-Sabbah said.
Resources in the region have become stretched following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict 13 days ago leaving experts concerned about the plight of women in the region.
"One of the biggest factors in whether you will have a safe pregnancy or childbirth is whether you have access to good antenatal care," Dr Siobhán Corcoran, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at The National Maternity Hospital told the Upfront team.
"Screening for all of the complications like pre-eclampsia is going to be very limited in a war zone situation," Dr Corcoran said.
"One of the main reasons why women do well in labour delivery is because they have access to a skilled birth attendant. Access to a skilled birth attendant is going to be very restricted in a conflict situation."
"About one in ten babies will need some sort of neonatal resuscitation. If you do not have access to safe facilities your infant mortality rate will be much higher from a completely preventable way which is a real tragedy," Dr Corcoran said.
As casualty numbers rise in Gaza, hospitals are coming under increasing pressure leading to fears that limited access to emergency obstetric care services will leave women facing life-threatening complications.
A further concern held by Ms Hussein-Sabbah is that pregnant women and new mothers in need of care will become less of a priority during the ongoing conflict with the focus of medical services being on people killed or injured by air strikes.
"I expect that immediately, she [new mothers] will be converted to an outpatient. They will not keep her for the time that she needs to rest. Because there are more urgent cases that will come into the hospital or the clinic," Ms Hussein-Sabbah said.
Some common complications in pregnancy and childbirth like obstetric haemorrhage are usually treatable, according to Dr Corcoran but the situation is exasperated by blood shortages.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday that blood banks in Gaza only have two weeks' worth of supply left.
"You need a surgeon to control bleeding and you need blood from a blood bank and I imagine those things will be difficult to access. In a conflict zone like this, the resources are taken up by mass casualties, the blood in the blood bank will go to the mass casualties and the injuries that are sustained," Dr Corcoran said.
Restrictions on aid entering the region has been a major point of contention internationally in recent days with shortages of food, water and basic medicines being reported.
On Thursday, Israel, the United States and Egypt said limited aid will be allowed to travel into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the coming days.
A lack of access to clean water could have devastating effects on Gaza’s pregnant population with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) saying pregnant and lactating women need seven and a half litres of water a day to keep themselves and their babies healthy.
"The drinkable water is very problematic right now. A woman needs liquids. There is no water. It's malnutrition for her. For the children," Ms Hussein-Sabbah said.
Dr Siobhán Corcoran says that an inability to access a reliable, clean source of water will likely lead to an increased risk of infection while the lack of access to basic medicines could also lead to a significantly increased rate of maternal death and infant mortality.
"Pregnant women are immunocompromised. They’re particularly vulnerable to infection. They’re prone to endometritis and mastitis. These can be very easily treated with appropriate antibiotics. If these drugs can’t be accessed women will die of very preventable deaths."
Listen to Soraida Hussein-Sabbah speaking to Katie Hannon on Upfront: The Podcast here, on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.
