Women, minors and newborns are the ones who “disproportionately bear the burden.”” the escalation of hostilities in the Palestinian territories, as several UN organizations denounced in a joint statement.
As a result According to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, this violence has killed 2,326 women and 3,760 children since October 7, accounting for 67 percent of the total death toll. “This means that 420 children are killed or injured every day, some of them as young as a few months old,” they noted.
“Bombing, damaged or non-functioning health facilities, massive displacement, collapsing water and electricity supplies, and limited access to food and medicine are severely impacting maternal, newborn and child health care.” The Middle East Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization have warned (WHO).
In addition, UN organizations have recalled that this is estimated to be the case in Gaza There are 50,000 pregnant women and more than 180 give birth every day. “Fifteen percent of them are likely to experience complications related to pregnancy or childbirth and require additional medical care,” they noted.
These women do not have access to the emergency obstetric services they need to have a safe birth and care for their newborns, they said. In particular, they recalled that 14 hospitals and 45 primary care centers are closed “Some women are forced to give birth in shelters, at home, on the streets amid rubble, or in overcrowded health centers, where sanitation conditions are deteriorating and the risk of infections and medical complications increases.”
“The lives of newborns are also at stake. “If hospitals run out of fuel, the lives of around 130 premature babies who need neonatal and intensive care will be at risk because incubators and other medical equipment will no longer work,” denounced the UN organizations.
In addition, health facilities are also being attacked: on November 1, Al Hilo Hospital, a key maternity hospital, was bombed, they recalled. “Given the lack of access to adequate care, maternal deaths are expected to increase. “The psychological toll of hostilities also has direct – and sometimes fatal – consequences on reproductive health, including increases in spontaneous abortions, stillbirths and stress-related preterm births,” they emphasized.
More than half of Gaza’s population is currently housed in UNRWA facilities in appalling conditions. with inadequate supplies of water and food, leading to hunger and malnutrition, dehydration and the spread of water-borne diseases.