THERE has been a significant rise in miscarriages in Gaza in the past 12 months, alongside a sharp 40% drop in new births compared to last year, marking a dire indicator of the worsening health and humanitarian situation in the Strip.
Dr Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the Health Ministry in Gaza, revealed yesterday that the number of monthly births has declined from around 26,000 to just 17,000, mainly due to the harsh living conditions faced by pregnant women.
He noted that low birth weights have become widespread in Gaza, attributing the trend to maternal malnutrition and the Israeli blockade on vital nutritional supplements, directly impacting the health of unborn babies and newborns.
Israeli forces deliberately target fertility centres.
The bombing of the Al-Basma Centre, for instance, destroyed nitrogen storage and the complete loss of nearly 4,000 fertilised embryos, a devastating blow to reproductive health in Gaza.
The genocide has resulted in more than 239,000 Palestinians killed or injured, the majority of whom are women and children, over 11,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine claiming the lives of many, mostly children, on top of widespread destruction that has erased much of Gaza’s urban landscape.
A ceasefire agreement between Palestinian factions and Israel went into effect on October 10, but the long-term humanitarian and health consequences of the war continue to deepen by the day.
The Gaza Strip’s brutal winter weather is exacerbating the suffering of civilians after more than two years of devastating Israeli war, UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said on Sunday.
‘More rain. More human misery, despair and death,’ Lazzarini said, warning that displaced Palestinians are struggling to survive amid worsening conditions.
‘Harsh winter weather is compounding more than two years of suffering. People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and among ruins,’ the UNRWA chief reported.
He also pointed out that ‘aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required’ to meet urgent needs, adding that UNRWA could significantly expand its relief efforts immediately if sufficient aid were permitted to enter the enclave.
Meanwhile, the Government Media Office (GMO) said that Gaza urgently needs around 200,000 prefabricated housing units to shelter displaced people as severe weather continues to batter the war-ravaged territory.
The current storm has flooded and blown away thousands of displacement tents, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis.
Since Saturday, a polar low-pressure system, the third this winter, has unleashed heavy rains and gale-force winds in Gaza, following two prior depressions that killed 17.
Pentonville protest for hunger strikers
OVER one hundred supporters of the Filton 24 hunger strikers marched from Pentonville prison in north London to King’s Cross Station in central London on Sunday night. Outside the prison they shouted: ‘Say it clear say it loud, Kamran Ahmed you make us proud’ directed towards the young hunger striker inside the prison who is on day 51 of his life-threatening hunger strike.
He has been hospitalised multiple times, his body ravaged by starvation, yet his spirit remains a beacon of defiance, alongside Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha and Lewie Chiaramello who are also on hunger strike in different prisons around the country.
