UN Population Fund Updated on 27 October 2023
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening, as fuel, water, food and life-saving medical supplies run out. The health system is on the brink of collapse.
Among Gaza’s population of 2.2 million people, 1 in 4 are women and girls of reproductive age – around 572,000 – who need access to reproductive health services. An estimated 50,000 pregnant women are caught up in the conflict, with around 5,500 due to give birth within the next 30 days – more than 160 deliveries every day. An estimated 840 women may experience pregnancy or birth-related complications. Many of these women have been cut off from safe delivery services, as hospitals, which are overwhelmed with casualties, run out of fuel for generators, medicines and basic supplies – including for the management of obstetric emergencies.
Around 73,000 women are currently pregnant in the West Bank, with more than 8,120 expected to give birth in the next month as the violence threatens to spill over.
UNFPA is dispatching life-saving reproductive health medicines and supplies to Egypt for stockpiling and transportation across the border into Gaza when possible. As of 26 October, UNFPA has 3,000 dignity kits containing hygiene supplies in Egypt, ready to go into Gaza, as well as life-saving reproductive health supplies, prepositioned and ready to be sent through Egypt. These health kits and supplies save the lives of pregnant women – they are as vital as food, water, shelter.
Among other initiatives, a UNFPA-supported helpline is available for women, youth and other people requiring assistance in Gaza and the West Bank
In the West Bank, the Ministry of Health has redeployed midwives from hospitals to Safe Motherhood Emergency Centres supported by UNFPA, ensuring that midwives are accessible in every community. In addition, online support systems and referral services are helping to ensure women’s continued access to sexual and reproductive health care.
With more than half of Gaza’s population displaced, the risk of gender-based violence has also increased exponentially for women and girls who are on the move, seeking refuge in overcrowded shelters, which lack privacy and sanitation facilities.
UNFPA condemns the violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and echoes the UN Secretary-General’s call for an immediate ceasefire, for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages by Hamas, and for unimpeded access for humanitarian aid and workers within Gaza.
CVD 