Summary

Background:

On 7 October 2023, Hamas lunched a massive terror attack against Israel. The first weeks after were characterized with great uncertainty, insecurity, and fear.

Objectives:

To evaluate the effect of the first 2 months of the Iron Swords war on obstetrical emergency attendance and the corresponding perinatal outcomes.

Methods:

We conducted a single center retrospective cohort study of all singleton births between 7 October and 7 December 2023. Prenatal emergency labor ward admission numbers and obstetric outcomes during the first 2 months of the war were compared to the combined corresponding periods for the years 2018–2022.

Results:

During the initial 2 months of the conflict 1379 births were documented. The control group consisted of 7304 deliveries between 2018 and 2022. There was a decrease in daily emergency admissions to the labor ward during the first 5 weeks of the conflict compared to the corresponding periods in the preceding years (51.8 ± 15.0 vs. 57.0 ± 13.0, P = 0.0458). A notable increase in stillbirth rates was observed in the study group compared to the control group (5/1379 [0.36%] vs. 7/7304 [0.1%]; P = 0.014). Both groups exhibited similar gestational ages at birth, rates of preterm and post-term delivery, neonatal birthweights, mode of delivery, and induction of labor rates.

Conclusions:

In the initial weeks following Hamas's attack on Israel, there was a notable decrease in admissions to the prenatal emergency labor ward. This decline coincided with an increase in the rate of stillbirths among a population not directly involved in the conflict.