{"id":80659,"date":"2025-12-11T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/gazas-maternal-and-newborn-health-system-decimated-un-warns\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:00:00","slug":"gazas-maternal-and-newborn-health-system-decimated-un-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=80659","title":{"rendered":"Gaza\u2019s maternal and newborn health system \u2018decimated\u2019, UN warns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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According to the UN human rights office (OHCHR), more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October 2023, when Palestinian armed groups attacked communities in southern Israel, triggering Israel\u2019s full-scale military assault on the enclave.<\/p>\n
OHCHR said 94 per cent of Gaza\u2019s hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, leaving pregnant women and newborns without essential care.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Israeli blockade has also prevented the entry of objects indispensable to the survival of civilians, including medical supplies and nutrients required to sustain pregnancies and ensure safe childbirth,\u201d the Office said.<\/p>\n
By late 2024, women in Gaza were three times more likely to die in childbirth and three times more likely to miscarry compared with pre-war levels<\/strong>, while newborn deaths also increased, OHCHR reported.<\/p>\n
Hospitals destroyed, medical staff killed<\/h2>\n
Israeli strikes hit maternity wards and neonatal intensive care units, while the December 2023 shelling of Gaza\u2019s largest fertility clinic caused the loss of over 4,000 embryos and 1,000 sperm and egg specimens.<\/p>\n
Medical personnel have also been targeted, OHCHR said, citing Palestinian Ministry of Health figures reporting 1,722 healthcare workers killed<\/strong> as of September 2025.<\/p>\n
Dr. Ambereen Sleemi, a gynecologist who volunteered in Gaza, told OHCHR: \u201cAs we did our rounds, bombs were going off in the background…Sometimes quadcopters would come in and try to shoot nurses or literally chase them through the hospital corridors.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said pregnant women arrived with gunshot wounds, including to the abdomen.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany women were simply too injured to survive.<\/strong> If their injuries did not claim their lives, then sepsis often did, as there were not enough medical supplies or antibiotics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunger factor<\/h2>\n
The blockade has driven severe shortages of food and baby formula. As of October 2025, 463 Palestinians had died from malnutrition, including 157 children<\/strong>, the Ministry of Health reported.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Crix of UN Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF), speaking from Gaza, told UN News that children and families enduring winter storms in makeshift tents:<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything was completely damp…the mattresses were wet; the children\u2019s clothes were wet. It\u2019s extremely difficult to live in those conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
He warned of a surge in acute watery diarrhoea and fears of further disease outbreaks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the very poor hygiene conditions and very limited sanitation system available, we are extremely concerned to see the spreading of waterborne diseases.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\nJonathan Cricx, UNICEF Spokesperson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
West Bank barriers grow<\/h2>\n
OHCHR also voiced alarm over Israel\u2019s construction of a new barrier and road in the Jordan Valley.<\/p>\n
Ajith Sunghay, the Head of Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said this would \u201cseparate Palestinian communities from each other and the Palestinian farmers in Tubas from land they own on the other side<\/strong> of the planned barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also warned that it would be \u201canother step towards the progressive fragmentation of the West Bank, which will eventually lead to the consolidation of annexation,\u201d stressing that that rights of Palestinian refugee status \u201ccannot be stripped or altered by unilateral coercive measures.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nAjith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n