Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 20th Jan. UNICEF and its partner UN humanitarian agencies on Friday warned that babies are being “delivered into hell” in Gaza with many likely dying as a result of conflict between Palestinian militant Hamas and Israel and increasingly dire conditions in Gaza strip.
UNICEF reiterated urgent international calls for a ceasefire, reported that there have been 20,000 births since the war began due to Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel that left some 1,200 dead and over 250 taken hostage on October 7.
The agency said that chronic aid access problems meant that Caesarean sections have been performed without anaesthetic while other women have been unable to deliver their stillborn babies because the medical staff overwhelmed.
UNICEF Communications Specialist Tess Ingram said “Mothers face unimaginable challenges in accessing adequate medical care, nutrition and protection before, during and after giving birth”.
“Becoming a mother should be a time for celebration. In Gaza, it’s another child delivered into hell.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed alarm that hepatitis A infections had been confirmed in Gaza and echoed deep concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation.
Tedros tweeted on X, “The inhumane living conditions – barely any clean water, clean toilets and possibility to keep the surroundings clean – will enable hepatitis A to spread further and highlight how explosively dangerous the environment is for the spread of disease”.
WHO latest data indicated that on average 500 people are sharing one toilet and over 2,000 people have to use a single shower, increasing the risk of disease spread.
The agency noted a sharp rise in upper respiratory infections, diarrhoea cases among children under age 5 recorded during the last three months of 2023 were 26 times higher than in 2022 during that period.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said “People are being pushed into ever smaller places; they’re in overcrowded shelters with lack of access to clean water, lack of access to toilets”.
Tarik Jasarevic said that “A large chunk of the population in Gaza people who are injured and bombarded need immediate medical help”.
He noted that Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis had only two doctors remaining in its emergency department compared to 24 before the war, with only 14 intensive care beds today, down from 45 and only 4 nurses available out of 20 initially.
UNICEF has ensured the delivery of milk formula and supplements for mothers too weak to breastfeed, along with medical supplies for overstretched medical teams, but much more is needed to help the most vulnerable women and children in Gaza.
Ms. Ingram explained that staff at the overwhelmed Emirati Hospital in Rafah were forced to discharge mothers “within three hours of a Caesarean”, a situation that is “beyond belief and requires immediate action”.
She insisted that constant bombardment and displacement “directly impacts newborns, resulting in higher rates of under nutrition, developmental issues and other health complications”.
Over 135,000 children under 2 years old are believed to be at risk of severe malnutrition today amid “inhumane” conditions characterized by makeshift shelters, poor nutrition and unsafe water, Ms. Ingram stated
“Seeing newborn babies suffer while some mothers bleed to death should keep us all awake at night,” she said. “Knowing two very young Israeli children abducted on 7 October have still not been released should also keep us awake.”
UN human rights office, OHCHR, expressed deep concern over reports that 25,000 people have been reported killed, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
OHCHR said 70 per cent are believed to be women and children, and 61,500 have been injured while “several thousands more are under the rubble, many presumed dead”.
UN aid coordination office, OCHA, repeated deep concerns that safe and effective relief missions “anywhere in Gaza” remained “heavily compromised by Israeli restrictions on the import of critical equipment, including appropriate communication devices”.
OCHA reiterated that access denials by the Israeli military to areas north of Wadi Gaza “have also impeded efforts to a scale up the provision of lifesaving assistance there and adding significant cost to the overall response”.
Head of the OHCHR briefed on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ajith Sunghay, said that displaced people continue to arrive in Rafah “in the thousands”.
“I’ve seen men and children digging for bricks to be able to hold in place tents made with plastic bags,” he said.
“This is a massive human rights crisis and a major, human-made, humanitarian disaster. Gaza needs urgent scaling up of humanitarian aid, including of the protection response.”
Mr. Sunghay said the days-long telecommunications blackout has continued.
He emphasized that this “added to the confusion and fear” as it prevented Gazans from accessing services and information on where they should evacuate.
“It is a pressure cooker environment here, in the midst of utter chaos, given the terrible humanitarian situation, shortages and pervasive fear and anger,” he said.
Mr. Sunghay described how “heavy bombardment of Middle Gaza and Khan Younis” was “clearly visible and audible from Rafah, especially at night”.
He said that he could “hear bombing, sometimes several times an hour”.
Night-time was “the most terrifying time” during strikes for Gazans and over 100 civilians still held hostage in Gaza who are “unseen (and) who most certainly hear the same sounds and feel the same fear”, he added.
