Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem: Cease the relentless attacks on healthcare in the Middle East

UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, strongly condemns the repeated, egregious attacks on healthcare facilities in the Middle East. These attacks cause death and injury and deprive women of their essential right to access reproductive healthcare.

Just three of the ten hospitals in northern Gaza are operational, and only at minimum capacity. These hospitals face dire shortages of the most basic items. Women, many of them malnourished, are left to give birth under heavy bombardment with little medication.

An airstrike on a tent camp in the Al Aqsa hospital compound in Deir al Balah earlier this week killed displaced Palestinians simply trying to survive, having lost their homes, schools, businesses and possessions. This was the latest in a long line of attacks on health workers, patients and facilities across Gaza and the West Bank. International humanitarian law and international human rights law must be respected.

Time and again, women in Gaza have lost access to essential health services, including emergency obstetric care, prenatal check-ups, and safe delivery facilities, contributing to a drastic increase in pregnancy-related complications and maternal deaths. The obstruction of deliveries of vital medical supplies has further exacerbated the healthcare crisis in Gaza, depriving people of basics like antiseptics, antibiotics and even soap.

Attacks on healthcare have not been limited to Gaza. Around half of the more than 1,000 attacks on healthcare in the occupied Palestinian territories have taken place in the West Bank, according to WHO.

Now healthcare is also under fire in Lebanon. As fighting intensifies, attacks on health facilities have killed health workers and patients, and forced almost half of primary health centres in conflict-affected areas to shut down. Lebanon's healthcare system is already struggling to serve an unprecedented influx of injured people, and these attacks, coupled with existing staff and resource shortages, are pushing it to the brink.

Healthcare is a fundamental human right. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. They must never be a target of war. Safe and unimpeded humanitarian access must be allowed to reach all those in need.

We need peace now.