The ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip for more than ten months has cast its shadow over Palestinian women, who are suffering double and complex suffering. Despite this, they insisted on taking the initiative to help alleviate the impact of the aggression on the people of the Strip.
In one of the shelters in the Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, citizen Afnan Bakroun and her two daughters provide various educational lessons to serve students who were forcibly displaced from their homes.
Afnan, who holds a master’s degree from the Islamic University in Gaza, explained to WAFA that she takes half a classroom in one of the shelters and gives lessons to students in groups, where she teaches English and mathematics, and gives her daughter courses in the Hebrew language, and her other daughter gives computer lessons.
Afnan added that her daughter opened a mental health clinic about a month ago to provide free psychological support sessions for the families of martyrs an
d to treat the psychological problems that arose with the aggression.
The aggression led to the forcible displacement of an estimated 85 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip, or about 1.93 million citizens, from their homes.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reports that more than 625,000 children in Gaza have been out of school for more than 10 months, half of whom were in schools before the aggression. The aggression also prevented 39,000 male and female students from taking their high school exams for the 2023-2024 academic year, in addition to the complete or partial destruction of dozens of schools, institutes and universities.
A clinic in a displacement tent
Pediatrician and breastfeeding specialist Lubna Al-Azayzeh used to work at Kamal Adwan Hospital and in her private clinic before the occupation bombed her home and clinic in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip.
Al-Azayzeh says that with the destruction of the health sector due to the aggression, and
with the worsening problem of newborns and overcrowding in hospitals, she decided to set up a medical tent among the tents of the displaced in Deir al-Balah, to provide medical services to newborns, conduct free examinations, and provide nursing services such as changing wounds and removing stitches.
A number of nurses volunteer with Al-Azayzeh, in an attempt to cover medical services for the largest possible segment of the displaced.
Al-Azayzeh continues that she goes to the tents of the displaced and provides them with medical services, and holds educational workshops on the importance of breastfeeding, as it strengthens immunity and protects against malnutrition, intestinal infections, and viral hepatitis.
She notes that she tries to provide clothes for newborns and nutritional supplements, noting that there is a significant shortage of medicines.
Al-Azaizeh indicated that she started an initiative called ‘You Are Our People’ so that the displaced people would not feel like strangers, considering that
most of them were displaced from the north and south of the Strip. The initiative aims to visit the camps to conduct a free full medical examination for children and the elderly who suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes and blood pressure, and to conduct the necessary tests for them, and to provide nursing services to the wounded and sick.
The health system in the Gaza Strip has lost 70 percent of its bed capacity, while efforts continue to rehabilitate vital medical services in the north of Gaza. Only 14 hospitals out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are operating, all of which are partially operating and face severe shortages, according to a report issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The report stated that about 885 health sector cadres were killed, the Israeli occupation forces arrested more than 310 others, hundreds were injured, and the occupation forces destroyed 130 ambulances. The deliberate targeting of medical infrastructure has deprived civilians of access to basic health care services.
T
he World Health Organization warned that the volume of medical supplies entering Gaza is not sufficient to sustain the health response, noting that all medical evacuations outside Gaza remain suspended.
People’s Voice
In a different initiative, Rafeef Aziz was working in the appeals department of a local media website, in addition to preparing journalistic materials. With the beginning of the aggression, her house was severely damaged, and she lost her laptop and the journalistic equipment that helped her work, so she preferred to complete her work on initiatives to relieve citizens in fulfillment of her national duty.
She says: ‘My beginnings in entering the charitable field were on a local website, and I became known as the voice of the people, and I turned my personal page on the social networking site (Facebook) into a platform for the voice of the people and their appeals.’
She added to ‘Wafa’ that during the aggression, the number of her followers increased, reaching more than 11 thousand followers,
and citizens’ appeals increased, so she began publishing individual appeals for those who wanted to help.
She added that with the increasing needs of citizens in light of the siege imposed on the Strip, she began networking with young men and women from Arab countries via social media, who want to donate money, and she in turn converts this money into food baskets, and tries to provide water, bread, and tents for citizens and displaced persons, and implements activities for children, in an attempt to serve entire families in the Deir al-Balah camps.
According to data published by the Global Initiative for the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification and Humanitarian Situation on June 25, 2024, 96 percent of the population of the Gaza Strip will face high levels of acute food insecurity by the end of September 2024.
Under the current circumstances, nearly half a million people are at risk of famine. This terrifying statistic means that one in five people in Gaza is facing acute hunger, and more than 20
percent of the population of the Strip spends entire days and nights without eating any food.
The quantities of international humanitarian food aid, which mostly consists of non-perishable canned foods, are not sufficient due to the siege. Moreover, although canned and packaged foods are indispensable and keep people alive, these items cannot replace fresh nutritious foods such as milk, red meat and vegetables.
Women strengthen the resilience of society
Commenting on these initiatives, Mona Al-Khalili, Minister of Women’s Affairs, said that women strengthen the resilience of their families, and strengthen the resilience of Palestinian society and its pillars, and thus are essential partners in defending the rights of our people.
She added in an interview with “Wafa” that in light of the occupation’s aggression on the Strip, women play different roles, as we have seen many female doctors and nurses who played a fundamental role in alleviating the suffering of the wounded, in addition to the relief role pla
yed by women through many initiatives, some of whom study, and some of whom provide health and psychological support.
According to a report by UN Women, at least 557,000 women in Gaza face severe food insecurity, and some mothers and women prioritize feeding others and face more difficulties than men in obtaining food. Child care, including feeding and physical care, falls primarily on the mother.
Pregnant and lactating women face high health risks due to the lack of adequate health and nutritional care, as 76 percent of pregnant women were anemic, and 99 percent face challenges in accessing nutritional and supplementary supplies, which threatens the health of mothers and newborns.
69 percent of the participants in the survey conducted by the Authority rely on unsafe cooking methods such as using wood and burning waste, which increases health risks.
A report prepared by the Palestinian Foundation for Empowerment and Local Development REFORM showed that 78 percent of women lack privacy as a result of repea
ted waves of displacement and living in crowded and dense tents.
The report stated that 68 percent of women are subjected to physical violence, 73 percent are subjected to psychological violence because they are responsible for providing food after the breadwinner was killed, and 89 percent of women suffer from symptoms of depression and shock.
Israel, the occupying power, has continued its war of extermination on the Gaza Strip since October 7, which has resulted in more than 132,000 martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.
In contempt of the international community, Israel continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate halt, and the International Court of Justice’s orders to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and to improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Source: Maan News Agency