Gaza: 155,000 Pregnant Women Struggling to Survive, Says Palestine Envoy, Shawesh

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Ambassador of Palestine to Nigeria, Abdullah Shawesh has drawn global attention to emerging humanitarian crisis in war torn Gaza, stating that around 155,000 pregnant women and new mothers are struggling to survive.

Addressing a press conference at the weekend on the situation in Gaza, Shawesh lamented that mass graves continued to be discovered in Gaza Strip, with the war currently leaving an estimated 37 million tons of debris and unexploded ordnance.

He said: “They are suffering from hunger and the diseases that stalk it, amid life-threatening shortages of food, water and medical care …Only three maternity hospitals remain in the Gaza Strip, and they are overwhelmed with patients. Doctors and midwives … are struggling to provide adequate care to new-borns.”
He decried that as it stands, the war is projected could take 14 years to clear the unexploded ordnance and rubble.

Shawesh said: “As of May 1, the number of Palestinian martyrs has reached 34,535, with 77,704 wounded, in addition to thousands of others who are still missing under the rubble or subjected to enforced disappearance in Israeli occupation detention centres.”

He alleged that Palestinian detainees are subjected to harsh measures, receiving minimal sustenance such as a single slice of bread and a small amount of food to merely sustain their lives and prevent death, resulting in substantial weight loss and serious health consequences.

“Around 155,000 pregnant women and new mothers are struggling to survive. They are suffering from hunger and the diseases that stalk it, amid life-threatening shortages of food, water and medical care …. Only three maternity hospitals remain in the Gaza Strip, and they are overwhelmed with patients,” he stated.

 He quoted the Palestinian Minister of Transport, Tariq Zourub, as declaring that the losses of the transportation sector in the Gaza Strip exceeded $3 billion, with the ‘occupation’ destroying about 945 km of roads and 55,000 vehicles, which is equivalent to 65 per cent of the road network and 60 per cent of the vehicles licensed in the strip.

“Day after day, Israeli crimes in Gaza are revealed, and every day we witness a new chapter of genocidal crimes.
“Recently, many mass graves were discovered in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Nasser Medical Complex in the Gaza Strip, which contain hundreds of dead bodies,” he added.