Gaza officials say 4,000 embryos destroyed in Israeli bombing, births down 40% The Gaza health ministry on Monday said that births have declined by 40 per cent, as Israel directly targeted the fertilisation centres and that the bombing of the Al Basma centre led to the burning of nitrogen pipes and the destruction of about 4,000 fertilised embryos. The Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir Barsh, said that the region witnessed a significant increase in abortion cases, compared to a sharp decrease in the number of births by 40 per cent compared to last year, as monthly births declined from 26,000 to only 17,000 cases. He said that low birth weight has become a widespread phenomenon as a result of maternal malnutrition.