Gaza Herald – The United Nations said more than 230,000 women and girls in Gaza, including nearly 15,000 pregnant women, were facing severely limited access to reproductive health services as a result of ongoing Israeli attacks and widespread destruction.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, citing the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), warned that the collapse of health services has heightened the risks of gender-based violence, child marriage, and exploitation across the besieged enclave.
Damage to hospitals, clinics, and safe spaces, combined with mass displacement, winter flooding, and insecurity, has sharply reduced access to both medical care and psychosocial support for women and adolescent girls.
The UN said humanitarian partners have reached more than 13,000 households in recent days with tents, blankets, clothing, cooking supplies, and solar lights, but funding and capacity shortfalls mean aid currently reaches only about 40 percent of Gaza’s displacement sites.
Despite the ceasefire announced in October, the UN noted that Israeli attacks and restrictions on aid have continued, leaving women and girls among the most exposed to Gaza’s deepening humanitarian and protection crisis.
