A woman in Israel has given birth to her 20th child.

The ultra-Orthodox woman, 42, shocked hospital staff when she arrived at the Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem, this week, to give birth to her 20th baby.

The mother, from the Mea Shearim area of Jerusalem, arrived to give birth and revealed that she already had 19 children.

Aliza Altmark, the midwife, helping the mother to deliver her 20th baby, was told by the mother that her brood  - from 18 previous births  - already included one set of twins.

Ms Altmark said: “She was very excited about every birth, every child, even the 19th and the 20th.

“It also gave me a good feeling. She has sons- and daughters-in-law, and of course she has a lot of help at home.”

According to Ms Altman the mother, whose older children have now married and had children, was very relaxed about what was to come and delivered her baby boy in under a few hours.

Ms Altman noted that it took longer than the woman’s previous births.

According to the Guinness World Record website an 18th-century Russian peasant woman holds the record for producing 69 children.