Pregnant Women’s Urine Trade in Gaza

Ekrema Shehab and Bilal Hamamra

In Gaza, the humanitarian crisis has led to the emergence of a desperate trade in pregnant women’s urine. This practice, which we first learned about through social media posts and subsequently verified through interviews with seven pregnant women, demonstrates the extent of nutritional insecurity, economic desperation, and the breakdown of social support structures affecting families in Gaza.

Our research team in Gaza, three female psychology master’s students, investigated this practice between 28 June and 12 July 2025. According to the women interviewed, various private and international aid organizations require a positive urine pregnancy test to distribute nutritional supplements, medications, and food. Due to acute food insecurity , some non-pregnant women began purchasing urine from pregnant women to obtain these aid packages. The pregnant women who sell their urine receive small amounts of cash, often just enough to buy bread for their other children, while the non-pregnant women use the urine to acquire the supplements, which they then resell to obtain money for food and other necessities.

Testimonies from women highlight how quickly this practice emerged. “This started only a few days ago,” one participant reported. “I was shocked when a neighbor asked if I would sell her my urine. She explained she needed to pretend she was pregnant to get food for her family.” As another woman noted, “I sold mine yesterday because I needed money for medicine.” For many, these exchanges have become the only available source of income as Gaza’s economy has collapsed.

Although this trade stems from individual survival needs, it is depleting the limited supply of nutritional supplements. Many pregnant women were turned away from aid centers due to shortages, increasing their risk of anemia, pre-eclampsia, and other complications, and endangering maternal and fetal health.

Women describe moral injury and shame as part of this experience. “After I sold my urine, I could not sleep,” said one participant. “I kept thinking about my unborn child and what I had done. But if I didn’t, there would be no bread for my other children.” Her words capture the impossible choices families face when forced to choose between feeding their children and preserving their sense of dignity. This internal conflict creates a profound sense of self-recrimination. The act, often done in secret to avoid social judgment, forces her to view herself as both a victim and a participant in a system that jeopardizes her own pregnancy. The harm is twofold. First, as many women acknowledged, their participation contributes to the rapid depletion of finite aid supplies, making it more difficult for them and other pregnant women to later access the very supplements essential for their child’s healthy development. As one participant stated, “I went back to the clinic for my prenatal vitamins… they told me, ‘The supplies are finished.’ I stood there, and I realized I have sold my own health.” Second, the act inflicts a profound moral injury, as women feel they are violating their fundamental duty to protect their unborn child, creating a state of intense psychological distress that is itself a risk factor in pregnancy.

The trade in pregnant women’s urine is evidence of systemic collapse, resulting from Israeli policies that deliberately undermine Gazans’ ability to survive with dignity. This phenomenon reveals the limits of humanitarian aid, which, under the conditions of siege and deprivation, becomes another tool of oppression during the devastating Gaza war. Addressing this crisis requires ending the Israeli blockade and confronting the political causes of deprivation. The central issue is the sustained deprivation imposed by the blockade, which weaponizes hunger and controls aid as collective punishment. These policies have created famine and mass suffering, central to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. A real solution demands international action to restore Palestinians’ rights to movement, economic self-determination, and health under international law. Humanitarian aid cannot replace justice or the right to live with dignity.

Ekrema Shehab,   is a professor of English, Faculty of Humanities, An-Najah National University, Palestine. Email: ikrimas@najah.edu

Bilal Hamamra, is an associate professor of English, Faculty of Humanities, An-Najah National University, Palestine.