The women and girls of Gaza
THE women and girls of Gaza are suffering unprecedented violence due to Israel’s horrific assaults. They, along with children, make up 70% of the more than 30,000 killed so far. If not killed, they are bombed out of their homes and forced to take refuge wherever possible. And what is it women, specifically pregnant women, need? Access to healthcare and hospitals. But the attacks on hospitals have severely limited this access and, as we have seen, affected those giving birth, and their babies, to an intolerable extent. It is not only about making it incredibly difficult for these women to give birth in anything remotely resembling a safe environment, but about putting their lives and the lives of the newborns at risk. We all saw the five babies left to die in the al-Nasr hospital in November when Israeli forces stormed the hospital and ordered patients, doctors and displaced civilians to leave. Doctors were ordered, ordered by IOF soldiers who knew this would be a death sentence fo