Relentless attacks, collapse of health and safety systems leave Gaza's women and girls facing “unthinkable challenges”

GAZA, Palestine – "I sleep on the streets, just like you found me. The situation is unbearable here,” a pregnant woman, due in just weeks, told UNFPA. 

Gaza is in the midst of a devastating humanitarian and security crisis. Since the escalation of hostilities with Israel began on 7 October, a siege has been imposed blocking food, water, fuel and medical supplies from entering the Gaza Strip.

The conflict has displaced most of Gaza’s population and is causing dire shortages, which are affecting women and girls acutely. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, rising tensions across Gaza’s overcrowded shelters and breakdowns in services and protection mechanisms are elevating risks associated with gender-based violence. 

Meanwhile, an average of 160 pregnant women are expected to give birth every day over the next month, with little or no availability to health services like emergency obstetric care. Nearly two thirds of health clinics are not functioning, according to the World Health Organization. 

UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, has joined several UN agencies in calling for a humanitarian ceasefire, “along with immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access throughout Gaza to allow humanitarian actors to reach civilians in need, save lives and prevent further human suffering”, Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem said in a statement.

“We call for safe and sustained access to water, food, health – including sexual and reproductive health – and fuel, which is necessary to enable essential services,” Dr. Kanem said. “Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. It is now catastrophic.”

Displaced and endangered

Hundreds of thousands in Gaza have fled to hospitals, schools, churches and other refuges, seeking safety. But no place is completely secure, with hospitals and camps vulnerable to attacks. Tensions at temporary shelters are reportedly running high – escalating risks of domestic violence.

“There is no privacy. There is no dignity here,” one woman told UNFPA of her living situation.

While a trickle of aid has been allowed into the Gaza Strip, fuel has not been permitted, leaving hospitals and UNRWA shelters running on empty – and jeopardizing UN relief operations.

Food and other essentials are also in short supply. Some families in Gaza are eating just one meal a day – a dangerous development especially for pregnant women, whose nutrition can make the difference between life and death for them and their newborns.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s capacity to produce water is at 5 per cent of normal levels.

“We hear really horrific stories of the challenges pregnant women are facing; some [have] only one or two small bottles of water [a day] that are quite salty” due to filtration breakdowns, said Dominic Allen, UNFPA representative for Palestine.

“Nowhere to go”

As Gaza is a fully enclosed territory with no means of escape, fleeing from hostilities is nearly impossible – as is accessing health care with Gaza’s systems collapsing.

“These pregnant women have really nowhere to go. They’re facing unthinkable challenges,” Mr. Allen said. “In the midst of the chaos, some are having to give birth in shelters, in their homes and also in health-care facilities which are really on their knees.”

“One woman able to make it into the hospital had to be discharged [three hours after giving birth] to make space for other pregnant women and other wounded,” he said.

Seventy-two aid trucks have entered Gaza since 7 October carrying essentials such as food, water and medical supplies. The volume of goods that has entered, however, represents just four per cent of the daily average volume of commodities that went into Gaza prior to the current crisis.

“What we need is rapid unimpeded humanitarian access. We need water, food, fuel, medicine – we need it at scale and we need it to be sustained,” Mr. Allen said. "Gazans are running out of time.”