When the pain became unbearable, Rana* rushed to a clinic in Qaryut, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, just before dawn on Monday.

After examining the 34-year-old Palestinian mother of two, doctors told her she had gone into premature labour.

She was six months pregnant.

The baby's heartbeat was still strong, so an ambulance was called to take her to Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus.

"I was in severe pain, like labour pains, and I felt exhausted," Rana told Middle East Eye.