Bethlehem is known globally as the birthplace of Christ. It also sits in the occupied West Bank at the heart of one of the world\u2019s most intractable conflicts. <\/p>\n
This film from the BBC World Service follows staff and mothers through a year at the Holy Family Hospital, run by the Catholic Order of Malta, which serves all women regardless of religion or ethnicity. <\/p>\n
Since the war in Gaza that followed the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel, Bethlehem has faced increasing pressure: checkpoints and roadblocks hamper movement, stress can induce premature births, missiles fly overhead and the staff and mothers listen to the devastating daily news from Gaza just 50 miles away. <\/p>\n
Vera, a maternity nurse, travels with the hospital\u2019s mobile clinic every week to check up on pregnant women in remote areas. It\u2019s a dangerous road as many of these villages are surrounded by illegal Israeli settlements and there have been many reports of violent settler attacks on Palestinian villages. <\/p>\n
New mother Amani gave birth to premature twins, a boy and a girl. The boy died, and the girl is on life support in the hospital\u2019s Neo Intensive Care Unit. Her paediatrician, Dr George, is concerned that she too may not survive. Amani visits her night and day and anxiously monitors her progress. <\/p>\n
Renad is pregnant with her first child. She works as a social worker with young girls in Shu\u2019fat camp, one of the most overcrowded refugee camps outside Jerusalem. <\/p>\n
Khuloud lives in the village of Kisan which is surrounded by settlements. She has five children and is pregnant with her sixth. During her pregnancy, she faces immense challenges: her husband was murdered by his cousins in a dispute over water, settlers are encroaching on her land, and some of her husband\u2019s killers remain at large. <\/p>\n
Through first-hand accounts, Born in Bethlehem captures the powerful stories of staff and mothers-to-be at Holy Family Hospital, as they share deeply personal journeys of grief, resilience and hope. <\/p>\n
Where to watch? <\/p>\n
Born in Bethlehem will be available from Tuesday 23 December <\/p>\n
International: The documentary will be available on BBC World Service YouTube channel in English & Arabic. UK audiences: Watch on BBC iPlayer <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bethlehem is known globally as the birthplace of Christ. It also sits in the occupied West Bank at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-68420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}