Abdullah Abu Deif (Rafah, Cairo)
The United Nations has warned of an increasing number of newborns on the verge of death in Gaza, while a UN official considered, in exclusive statements to Al-Ittihad, that the situation in the Strip is greater than just a humanitarian crisis, pointing to fear for the fate of a million women and girls.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that during the first two weeks of this month, the Israeli authorities only facilitated the arrival of 11 humanitarian missions out of 24 that were planned to go to northern Gaza, as the rest of the missions were refused entry or were postponed, stressing that the restrictions imposed on the delivery of… Aid to Gaza continues to impede the delivery of life-saving supplies, especially to hundreds of thousands of residents in the north of the Strip, while the number of children on the brink of death due to acute hunger increases.
World Health Organization spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris said, “Doctors and health workers tell us that they are seeing more and more the effects of hunger on people in Gaza. They are seeing newborns dying because they are born with very low weight, and increasingly we are seeing children on the verge of death and in need of nutritional care.”
As malnutrition rates rise sharply in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization supports the establishment of a nutrition center in Kamal Adwan Hospital, the only children's hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.
The organization supports a center in Rafah to treat children suffering from complications of acute malnutrition, and also contributes to establishing another center in Rafah in a field hospital.
OCHA has repeatedly stressed the need for Israeli forces to ensure safe, sustainable and unimpeded access to various parts of Gaza, and to open all possible crossing points into the Strip; Because land routes are the only way to deliver aid in the amount required to prevent famine. United Nations Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq explained that sending aid to northern Gaza requires daily approvals from the Israeli authorities, and that truck convoys are often returned without being allowed to enter, even after a long wait at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint.
In this context, Dominic Allen, representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Palestine, described the situation in Gaza as much greater than a mere humanitarian crisis, indicating that he feels terrified for the fate of a million women and girls, and that about 180 births are witnessed in the Strip every day.
After his visit to northern Gaza on a mission carried out by the United Nations several days ago, to deliver medical aid to Al-Ahly and Al-Sahaba Hospital, Dominic said in a statement to Al-Ittihad that while they were traveling, people’s looks and feelings were difficult to describe, and that everyone they spoke to was weak and hungry. .
Dominic revealed that some women lost their children, and that fear exists everywhere in the sector, especially for pregnant women.
“Newborns are not the normal size, and health workers are tragically seeing an increase in the number of stillborn babies, as well as more newborn deaths,” he said.
He pointed out that every day in northern Gaza is a battle for survival, as he met a number of health service providers at Al-Sabah Hospital who expressed their fears due to displacement several times, in addition to suffering from hunger. Hospital workers also face an increase in complicated births and the need to To more health care.
The UN official conveyed – through their meetings with a number of women in unofficial shelters – that they face great challenges, as they are one of the vulnerable groups, and they need sanitary and feminine hygiene supplies. The representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Palestine stressed the need to increase capacity through more field hospitals, help in obtaining more capabilities on the ground, and increased reinforcements at the level of health sector workers.
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