Main maternity hospital in Rafah stops admitting patients

The main maternity hospital in the Gaza Strip's crowded southern city of Rafah has stopped admitting patients, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) told Reuters on Wednesday.

The UNFPA told Reuters that the hospital, Emirati Maternity Hospital, had been handling some 85 births each day out of a total of 180 births in Gaza each day prior to an escalation of fighting between Hamas and Israeli troops on Rafah's outskirts.

Around half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been crowded into Gaza after fleeing other parts of the enclave during seven months of war.