UN official: Two mothers are killed every hour in the Gaza Strip

The Executive Director of UN Women said that 67% of the martyrs of the Israeli aggression on Gaza were women and children, noting that two mothers are killed every hour in the Gaza Strip.

“Two mothers are killed in the Gaza Strip every hour, and 7 women every two hours,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahouth.

Research added in a speech on Wednesday during a session of the UN Security Council on the situation in Gaza, that “67% of the civilian deaths in the occupied Palestinian territories were men, before last October 7, but the situation was reversed after it, and 67% of the 14 One thousand civilians killed in Gaza were women and children.

She said, "Women in Gaza pray for peace, but if there is no peace, they pray for quick death while they sleep with their children in their arms."

The UN official noted that "nearly 800,000 women were displaced from the Gaza Strip."

More than 14,500 martyrs and 7,000 missing in Gaza and organizations consider the truce “insufficient”

The government media office in the Gaza Strip announced on Wednesday that the death toll of Palestinian martyrs as a result of the Israeli aggression had risen to 14,532, including more than 6,000 children and 4,000 women, since last October 7.

The government media office in the Gaza Strip announced on Wednesday that the death toll of Palestinian martyrs in the Israeli war on the Strip had risen to 14,532, including more than 6,000 children and 4,000 women, since last October 7.

The office said, in a statement on the Telegram platform, that 69 percent of the martyrs were children and women.

The statement revealed that there are about 7,000 missing people in the Gaza Strip, including 4,700 children and women, since last October 7, either under the rubble, or their bodies lying in the streets, or their fate unknown.

Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world for children

Earlier today, the United Nations announced that 5,300 children were killed during 46 days of the devastating war waged by the Israeli occupation forces on the Gaza Strip.

This came in a briefing on the situation in Gaza presented by Catherine Russell, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), during a session of the UN Security Council.

Russell pointed out that the humanitarian truce expected tomorrow, Thursday, in Gaza is “not enough,” stressing the need to implement a humanitarian ceasefire immediately to end the massacre.

She also stressed the importance of preventing attacks on the south of the Gaza Strip, where military movements are increasing, which would exacerbate the bad humanitarian situation there.

She continued: “5,300 Palestinian children were killed in just 46 days, which is equivalent to 115 children every day,” explaining that 40 percent of deaths in Gaza are children.

Russell stressed that she had never faced such a situation before, "Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world for children."

She pointed out that the United Nations organization obtained information indicating the presence of 1,200 children under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombing in Gaza.

She explained that "children do not die only because of bombs, missiles or weapons, but terrible living conditions also lead to death."

Russell revealed that one million children, that is, all the children in the Gaza Strip, face a food shortage.

She added that 35 children in Israel and 56 in the West Bank have been killed since last October 7, and that 450,000 children there are in need of humanitarian aid.

For her part, Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Natalia Kanem, expressed her concern about the fate of pregnant women in the Gaza Strip and their newborns.

Kanem said: "Amidst the battles and destruction, there are currently 5,500 pregnant women in Gaza who are expected to give birth during the next month. Every day, about 180 women give birth in horrific conditions, and the future of their infants is uncertain."

She added: "What should be a moment of joy is overshadowed by death, destruction, horror and fear."

While the head of UN Women, Sima Bahouth, explained, “Before the current escalation, 650,000 women and girls were in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Gaza. Now, this number has risen to 1.1 million, including 800,000 displaced women.”

She pointed out that "the world expects us to implement its highest ideals, not to reflect its greatest failures."

Continuing Israeli attacks on several areas of the #Gaza Strip as the aggression enters its forty-seventh consecutive day. 

On Wednesday, many non-governmental organizations considered that the possibility of establishing a four-day truce under the agreement between Israel and Hamas was “insufficient” to bring the required aid into the Gaza Strip, calling for a permanent ceasefire.

These organizations reiterated their condemnation of the Israeli bombing operations on hospitals and other health sector infrastructure, expressing their regret for the killing of many of their staff members.

Paul O'Brien, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, said during a video conference in which Handicap International, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Doctors of the World and Save the Children also participated: “It is unimaginable.” "It is sufficient, and it is certainly not sufficient in terms of human rights."

An agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, stipulating a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held by Hamas since last October 7, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

The agreement includes the entry of a larger number of humanitarian convoys and relief aid, in the context of the ongoing siege to which the Gaza Strip is subjected, from which Israel has prevented supplies of fuel, water, electricity, and foodstuffs.

“In four days, we cannot provide food for two million people and care for two million people,” said Daniela Zizi, an official at Handicap International, expressing her belief that this would be “a drop in the ocean.”

"Hospitals should never, under any circumstances, be targets," said Avril Benoit, Director General of Doctors Without Borders in the United States.

On Wednesday, Hamas announced that the agreement included its release of 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of 150 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.

Hamas said, in a statement, that “in accordance with the truce agreement, there will be a ceasefire in all areas of the Gaza Strip, and hundreds of trucks of humanitarian aid, including fuel, will be brought into all areas of the Strip without exception.”

Since last October 7, the Israeli occupation army has been waging a land, sea and air war on the Gaza Strip, during which it destroyed entire neighborhoods and their residents, causing massive losses in lives and infrastructure.