Pregnant Palestinian women face checkpoint ordeals in the West Bank during labour

Every outbreak of violence in the West Bank triggers Israeli road closures and checkpoint shutdowns, leaving pregnant Palestinian women stranded while trying to reach hospital. Following violence in Nablus on 24 July — in which two Israeli settlers and four Palestinians were killed — access to medical care became critically difficult again. Correspondent Claire Duhamel accompanied a paramedic who regularly transports labouring women, one of whom was haemorrhaging.