Impact of U.S./Israeli Genocide on 50,000 Pregnant Women as Gaza's Hospitals Destroyed
Demonstration of health care workers in Melbourne, Australia, December 3, 2024
A main aim of the U.S./Israeli genocide in Palestine is to target women and children, the next generation. Whole families and communities are being wiped out, as Israel repeatedly bombs residential areas, refugee camps and hospitals. One after another, most hospitals have now been destroyed or left inoperable, 34 so far. The five remaining hospitals have lost 75 per cent of their capacity amid unrelenting U.S./Israeli bombing and raids which have destroyed ambulances, forced evacuation of doctors and health care workers, and blocked delivery of needed fuel for generators.
Doctors are working with a severe shortage of medicines that prevents them from treating thousands of patients. In many hospitals surgical departments have been forced to stop operating. Doctors have called for the immediate evacuation of 25,000 patients to hospitals in East Jerusalem or elsewhere.
The
UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned that "50,000 pregnant women are
in danger," with 4,000 deliveries expected in December alone. The UNFPA
said that in addition to "weakened immune systems" and the risk of
contracting waterborne diseases, pregnant and breastfeeding women "must
also survive alongside piles of rubbish and sewage and with barely any
access to health care." UNFPA also reported that in the last six months
there has been a sharp rise in reported miscarriages.
Starvation is another weapon of genocide aimed at women and children. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reports that Israel prevented 82 out of 91 attempts by the UN to deliver aid to the besieged northern Gaza Strip between October 6 and November 25. It also denied nine other requests for life-saving humanitarian assistance for three other areas in Gaza.
Millions have been displaced from their homes with about 80 per cent of the people of Gaza impacted by Israeli evacuation orders, commonly forced to evacuate to locations that are not safe and even deadly. They are not only exposed to bombings but also repeatedly deprived of essential services. On December 3, another Israeli evacuation order was issued in Khan Younis, impacting more than 2,000 people, the fourth evacuation order for this area since July. For two months, northern Gaza has been under intense bombardment and a siege that leaves 65,000 to 75,000 people without regular access to food, water, electricity, or reliable health care. Mass casualties of civilians continue. Yet, despite everything, the Resistance persists and the people remain defiant.
(Anadolu, Palestine Chronicle)
This article was published in
Thursday, December 5, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/ITN2024/Articles/TI54632.HTM
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