Gaza’s women and girls disproportionately affected

ATON of rubble isn’t required to silence the cries of Palestinians being buried alive – the complicity (or at best, the appalling apathy) of our politicians and media is enough.

It was 23 years ago, during the intifada – an Arabic word meaning to “shake off”, referring to the Palestinian civil disobedience against the Israeli occupation – that I met with a handful of people working to further the Palestinian cause.

We all recognised that Palestinians were facing grave injustices – more than 50 years of land theft, oppression and gross human rights violations – but none of us knew exactly what – if anything – could be done about it.

Mainstream media and politicians worked hand in glove to portray Palestinians as the aggressors and as terrorists intent on destroying Israel, which they pushed as the only democracy in the region.

As a mixed-race ScottishPalestinian, I too was a criminal by

WOMEN and girls in Gaza are being disproportionately affected by attacks from Israel’s military forces, after the UN warned more than 5000 women are expected to give birth in Gaza in the next month.

Experts from the UN raised alarm bells at reports of pregnant women having caesarean sections and injured children undergoing amputations without anaesthesia.

It comes after an internal UN report described widespread abuse of Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centres, including beatings, dog attacks, the prolonged use of stress positions and sexual assault.

According to UN Women, approximately two mothers are killed in Gaza every hour – 37 every day – with more than 9000 women believed to have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza as of March 5.

Around 3000 women are estimated to have become widows following their male partner’s death, whilst more than 10,000 children are believed to have lost their fathers.

The UN believes around 155,000 women in Gaza are pregnant or breastfeeding, with 5500 expected to deliver in the next month.

ISRAEL is a settler colony – a product of racist imperialism. The eradication of a people – as we are witnessing in real time in Gaza – has always been part of the plan. The survival of Palestinians in the West Bank also hangs in the balance as the occupation ramps up the imprisonment and killing of Palestinians in record numbers there too.

The theatrics of Westminster as to whether and how a genocide that has already claimed the lives of over 30,000 Palestinians should end serves only to make crystal clear that the moral compass of our leaders is broken.

As we mark International Women’s Day in recognition of the

Meanwhile, children’s charity Unicef has called Gaza the “most dangerous place to be a child”.

The UN Women organisation has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, as well as the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, and “sustained and unrestricted humanitarian access” for aid access.

Since October 7, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, twothirds of whom are believed to be women and children.

The World Food Programme estimates that four in five Gazans face hunger and starvation, with the risk of famine becoming more achievements of women, we must pause to consider the plight of Palestinian women.

One example out of the many I could have chosen refers to “peacetime” in Gaza, where Palestinian women living under a blockade imposed by Israel were forced to undergo caesarean sections without spinal anaesthesia.

Being unable to produce breast milk due to severe malnourishment or provide formula milk for newborns due to a lack of basic supplies further perpetuates the cycle of misery. Would anyone else in the world accept this? The ultimate paradox of bringing life into the jaws of ethnic cleansing?

Palestinian women, however – despite being oppressed and starved, enduring bombing raids and the torment of overhead drones – remain defiantly strong.

The case of our hero Amira Al-Assouli deserves attention. A

There is a need to address the disruption of schooling

Recent theatrics prove the moral compass of our leaders is broken

prevalent each day that military offensive continues.

The UN urged Israel to implement an immediate ceasefire and measures that “prioritise the needs of Palestinian women and girls”.

A spokesperson said: “At this stage of the conflict, there is an urgent and growing need to address the near total disruption of schooling, massive destruction of housing, lack of access to sexual and reproductive health care and supplies, and heightened risk of arbitrary detention and violence, including gender-based violence, faced by women and girls in Gaza and the West Bank.”

Israel’s