UN Security Council holds meeting on Palestine issue

The UN Security Council held a meeting on Wednesday on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, during which members were briefed by UN officials on the impact of the war on women and children in occupied Palestine. Executive Director of UN-Women, Sima Bahous, said 180 women are delivering babies every day without water, painkillers, anesthesia for C-sections, electricity for incubators, and medical supplies. "Yet, they continue caring for their children, the sick, and the elderly, mixing baby formula with contaminated water and going without food so that their children can live another day, enduring multiple risks in severely overcrowded shelters," Bahous added. "Women in Gaza have told us that they pray for peace, but that if peace does not come, they pray for a quick death, in their sleep, with their children in their arms. It should shame us all that any mother, anywhere, has such a prayer," Bahous reiterated. "We are seeing an escalation in the West Bank where demolition s of public infrastructure, revocation of work permits, increased settler violence, and detentions have significantly impacted the lives and livelihoods of women," Bahous concluded. "More than 5,300 Palestinian children have been reportedly killed in just 46 days that is over 115 a day (in Gaza). We are also receiving reports that more than 1,200 children remain under the rubble of bombed out buildings or are otherwise unaccounted for," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in her briefing. "The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child," Russell underlined. "UNICEF also welcomes the limited ceasefire agreement. We are positioned to quickly scale up the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid in Gaza but, of course, more resources are needed to meet ever growing needs. But this is far from enough: the war must be brought to an end and the killing and maiming of children must stop immediately," Russell added. Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fun d (UNFPA), Natalia Kanem, said in Gaza there are currently 5,500 pregnant women expected to give birth in the coming month under appalling conditions. "The future for their newborns uncertain." Source: Jordan News Agency