Amal Abu Aisha is a woman from the Gaza Strip who fled her home. She shares her concerns about displacement and her pregnant daughter, Razan, who is ready to give birth but is staying at home without anyone who can look after her or assist with the delivery of her baby:
“I do not know what I can do as her husband is fulfilling his medical duty in Gaza hospitals under this difficult situation. I cannot reach her, and she cannot move to the hospital under this constant attack and overcrowding of hospitals. I only need to be next to her…this is her first baby. I cannot imagine how she can bear the severe pains of labor alone.”
Riham Jafari, Coordinator of Advocacy and Communication for ActionAid Palestine, said:
“As thousands of Gazans flee in fear of their lives, abandoning their homes and communities, the targeting of hospitals and critical infrastructure is deeply concerning, an egregious violation of international law and a blatant disregard for human lives.
We are particularly concerned about the devastating impact on the 50,000 pregnant women and newborn babies in Gaza right now, who are all left without essential medical care and the safety they deserve as they make the impossible choice of fleeing with no guarantee of safety, or remaining at risk of almost certain death.”
ActionAid calls for the immediate reversal of the evacuation order and the guarantee of civilians’ full protection and safety.
ENDS
Notes to editor
Spokespeople are available:
- Nadim Zaghloul – ActionAid Palestine Country Director, currently in the West Bank
- Wisam Shweiki – Head of Programmes at ActionAid Palestine, currently in the West Bank
- Gemma Cosialls – Country Manager at ActionAid Spain, currently in Jerusalem
For media requests, please email Christal.James@actionaid.org or call 704 665 9743.
About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 15 million people living in more than 40 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.