UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : Gaza: Destruction of hospitals

Gaza: UN humanitarians decry ‘purposefully broken’ life-saving medical supplies.

Returning from a 10-day mission in Gaza, a senior representative from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) described the situation as a “humanitarian hellscape” after six and a half months of Israeli attacks on healthcare at embattled hospitals in the north, central and southern governorates.

“What I saw, it breaks my heart, it's indescribable. What we see there is medical equipment, purposefully broken, ultrasounds, which you will know is a very important tool for helping ensure safe births, with cables that have been cut, screens of complex medical equipment like ultrasounds and with the screens smashed,” reported Dominic Allen, UNFPA Representative for the State of Palestine.

The UNFPA mission, which commenced on Monday 8 April, and concluded this Wednesday, was conducted in collaboration with the UN World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Their goal was to visit approximately 10 hospitals in Gaza, including Al Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, which was described as "overwhelmed with trauma patients" and unable to provide maternity care support.

“I am terrified for the one million women and girls in Gaza right now, and especially for the 180 women giving birth every single day and giving birth in inhumane, unimaginable conditions,” said the UNFPA Representative, who spoke via video link from Jerusalem to journalists in Geneva.

Compared to the situation pre-war in Gaza, when around 15 per cent of now births required some form of emergency obstetric care, twice that number are now being reported anecdotally.

“There is absolutely an increase in the numbers,” noted Mr. Allen. “Some doctors reported a doubling of what they previously had dealt with in terms of dealing with complications with birth. And this is due to malnutrition, dehydration and fear, which impact the pregnant woman's ability to give birth safely and carry their baby to full term safely.”

Al-Shifa, which was the biggest hospital in Gaza for tertiary care, lies in complete ruins, according to Mr. Allen. In the south in Rafah, the Emirati hospital, which is a major lifeline for pregnant women in Gaza, supports around 50-60 births every single day, including 10 to 12 Caesarean sections.

The UNFPA mission, supported by the UN demining service UNMAS, also visited the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern region, which operated a maternity ward that had been supported and provided with supplies by UNFPA teams.

While visiting Nasser Hospital, “we have (had) to be careful for unexploded ordnance together with UNMAS we were walking through the entrance into there, it was unrecognizable from when I went and visited two months ago,” said Mr. Allen. “It didn't seem as if there was any piece of working medical equipment. The maternity ward, the birthing rooms that I visited earlier stand silent. There should be a place of giving life and they just have an eerie sense of death.”

Three schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which now function as designated shelters are now being transformed into emergency medical points to deploy midwives because pregnant women are not getting enough access to pre- and post-natal health care. This is a partnership organised by UNRWA, UNFPA and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.

Speaking about Rafah where more than 1.2 million people are sheltering and facing continued fears of an Israeli incursion, the UNFPA officer underscored that “fear remains ever present as a military incursion in Rafah would compound the humanitarian catastrophe”.

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Gaza: Destruction of hospitals - UNFPA

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