March 8 is not Women’s Day in Gaza
- March 8, 2024
- 0
Women’s Day? In a tent in Rafah, where Um Zaki said she cooked porridge over a fire to satisfy the hunger of her six children. the holiday seems
Women’s Day? In a tent in Rafah, where Um Zaki said she cooked porridge over a fire to satisfy the hunger of her six children. the holiday seems like a cruel joke.
“Now all our days seem the same. Holidays, happy occasions, good food, laughter and hope disappeared because of the war“, said Reuters by phone.
“What is Women’s Day? They deprive us of minimal rights and deprive us of life. Every day women die from Israeli bombs.”
March 8, International Women’s Dayis usually a major public holiday in the Palestinian territories, with Gazan families donning their best clothes and flocking to hotels and restaurants to honor their mothers, daughters and sisters.
Now, with nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents homeless and struggling to survive, It was painful to even think about these things.
According to Um Zaki, on the day she usually put on makeup, her face was stained with soot from a fire in the kitchen. She began to talk about how her underwear was hanging outside the store on a clothesline for everyone to see. Another woman next to her shouted into the phone: “Women’s Day! There is no Women’s Day in the Gaza Strip. In the Gaza Strip we are close to the Last Judgment because of Israel.”
Photo: Reuters
In a statement marking the holiday, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said that 60,000 pregnant women in the enclave suffered from dehydration and malnutrition.
“Every month, five thousand pregnant women give birth in the Gaza Strip in harsh, unsafe and unhealthy conditions due to shelling and population displacement,” the statement said.
Gaza health authorities say Nearly 9,000 of the 30,878 people confirmed killed in the Israeli offensive were women. and another 13,000 are children of both sexes. Many thousands more are believed to have died in the rubble.
Now, when acute hunger is spreading throughout the enclave and there is practically no food, Mothers and young children are most vulnerable.
Although the crisis has not yet lasted long enough for the famine to cause a huge number of hunger-related deaths, it is already the largest hunger emergency ever observed by CIP, the international organization responsible for assessing hunger.
Photo: Reuters
Last month, CIP reported that the Gaza Strip already had “the highest proportion of people facing the highest levels of acute food insecurity that CIP has ever classified for a given region or country.”
The UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA noted in X that the death toll meant an average of 63 women a day were dying in Gaza, 37 of them mothers.
The Israeli military says it is doing everything possible to minimize harm to civilians and accuses Hamas of using them as human shields.
Israel says it does not restrict the flow of aid into Gaza and blames the UN agencies tasked with distributing it.
The agencies say they cannot do so in a war zone where civil administration has collapsed, and that Israeli troops patrolling the Gaza Strip have a responsibility to ensure the safe delivery of food.
Reuters
Source: Aristegui Noticias
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.
