To: Professor Ranee Thakar, President, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Gill Walton, Chief Executive, Royal College of Midwives

Subject: Joint Petition from UK Midwifery and Obstetrics Professionals – Urgent Call to Action on the Gaza Humanitarian Crisis

Dear Professor Thakar and Ms Walton,

We, the undersigned midwives, obstetricians, gynaecologists, trainees, nurses, and allied professionals working across maternity, newborn, and reproductive care, write to you with deep alarm at the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. As healthcare professionals committed to the wellbeing, dignity, and safety of women, babies, and families, we feel a moral and professional responsibility to speak out with clarity and urgency.

As of May 2025, the World Health Organization and United Nations report a spiralling collapse of essential services in Gaza. The health system is in ruins, with 94% of hospitals damaged or destroyed, and catastrophic levels of food insecurity affecting the entire population. Over 71,000 children under five are projected to suffer acute malnutrition, and at least 57 children have already died from starvation since the blockade intensified in March.

The impact on maternal and newborn health is especially harrowing:

Midwives and obstetric teams are attending births in tents, rubble, and overcrowded shelters, often without clean water, lighting, or sanitation.

• There are documented cases of caesarean sections performed without anaesthesia, due to the near-total depletion of medical supplies.
• Women experiencing miscarriages or obstetric emergencies have been denied access to functioning hospitals, leading to avoidable maternal and neonatal deaths.
• Survivors of gender-based violence are left without safe spaces, care, or post-trauma support.
• Access to antenatal, postnatal, and newborn care is severely restricted, putting an entire generation at risk of poor outcomes, trauma, and lifelong health complications.
• These are not natural disasters. They are the foreseeable consequences of a deliberate blockade, the targeting of healthcare infrastructure, and the obstruction of humanitarian aid — in direct violation of international humanitarian law, medical neutrality, and the basic rights of women and children to survive childbirth safely.

We are aware that RCOG and RCM have previously issued statements on global maternal health and conflict-affected populations. While we value the Colleges’ international commitments, we believe this moment calls for specific, public, and principled leadership.

We also recognise that statements may have been made or are under consideration. While such acknowledgements are welcome, they must not substitute for the clear, urgent, and sustained leadership this moment demands. Anything short of a public condemnation of the use of siege, starvation, and the destruction of maternal and newborn healthcare systems risks being seen as symbolic rather than substantive.

We therefore respectfully call on the RCOG and RCM to:

Publicly and unequivocally condemn the use of starvation and siege, and the destruction of maternal, midwifery, and reproductive health services, as violations of international law and basic human dignity.

• Publicly support and align with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2728, which calls for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access, and the protection of civilians and healthcare providers.
• Collaborate as sister colleges, and with other professional bodies, to advocate for the restoration of maternity and newborn care in Gaza and to uphold the rights of women, babies, and health workers.
• Support legal accountability for those responsible for the obstruction of care and the targeting of health systems, particularly where women, newborns, and midwives have been affected.
• Provide a platform for your members, midwives, obstetricians, and all maternity professionals; to advocate, educate, and act, and to offer clear ethical guidance on responding to humanitarian crises.

This is a moment that will be remembered — by our patients, our colleagues, and future generations. As professionals who have dedicated our lives to ensuring safe pregnancy and birth, we believe silence is not neutrality — it is abandonment.

We stand ready to support both Colleges in any action that upholds our shared values and defends the lives and rights of women, babies, and families in Gaza.

Sincerely,

 [The Undersigned]

 UK Midwifery and Obstetrics Community

 May 2025