This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Communication Specialist Tess Ingram \u2013 to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIn the 105 days of this escalation in the Gaza Strip, nearly 20,000 babies have been born into war. That\u2019s a baby born into this horrendous war every 10 minutes.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time last week, I was spending time with mothers at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah, the Gaza Strip.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day there was a welcome reminder of the strength of life amid the chaos of war. But it was also the most heartbreaking of the seven days I spent in Gaza”.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me give you four quick examples that speak to thousands of women\u2019s experiences”.<\/p>\n
\u201cIman \u2013 ran, terrified, while eight months pregnant, through the streets of Gaza City when it was under attack. Now, 46 days after a cesarean she is hospitalised with a severe infection. She is too weak to hold her new baby Ali”.<\/p>\n
\u201cMashael \u2013 her house in the middle area was hit, her husband buried under the rubble for several days and then, her baby stopped moving inside her. She says she is sure now, about a month later, that the baby is dead. She is still waiting for medical care. She tells me it is best \u201ca baby isn\u2019t born into this nightmare\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmal \u2013 buried under rubble during an attack while six months pregnant. The baby didn\u2019t move for a week. Fortunately, baby Sama was born healthy the day before we met. But Amal is injured and sick and was preparing to take Sama home to a makeshift shelter on the streets of Rafah”.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd nurse Webda has performed emergency cesareans on six dead women in the last eight weeks. She tells me, \u201cThere are also more miscarriages because of the unhealthy air and smoke due to the bombing. This has happened more times than I can count\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation of pregnant women and newborns in the Gaza Strip is beyond belief, and it demands intensified and immediate actions”.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe already precarious situation of infant and maternal mortality has worsened as the healthcare system collapses”.<\/p>\n
\u201cMothers face unimaginable challenges in accessing adequate medical care, nutrition, and protection before, during and after giving birth”.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Emirati Hospital in Rafah is now catering to the vast majority of pregnant women in the Gaza Strip”.<\/p>\n
\u201cStruggling with overcrowded conditions and limited resources, staff are forced to discharge mothers within three hours of a cesarean”.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese conditions put mothers at risk from miscarriages, stillbirths, preterm labor, maternal mortality and emotional trauma”.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trauma of war also directly impacts newborns, resulting in higher rates of undernutrition, developmental issues and other health complications”.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd pregnant and breastfeeding women and infants are living in inhumane conditions: makeshift shelters, poor nutrition, and unsafe water. This is putting approximately 135,000 children under two at risk of severe malnutrition”.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s not forget, this is in the southern half of Gaza. Despite relentless efforts, UNICEF has been unable to access the north, where the situation is, incredulously, worse”.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the time it has taken me to present this, another baby was likely born, but into what? Like Amal, will they be returning to a makeshift shelter. Nervous that the water is going to make their baby sick? Worried about what the baby will eat?”<\/p>\n
\u201cBecoming a mother should be a time for celebration. In Gaza, it’s another child delivered into hell”.<\/p>\n
\u201cHumanity cannot allow this warped version of normal to persist any longer. Mothers and newborns need a humanitarian ceasefire.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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