SNA (Tokyo) — Oxfam, a British-led confederation of charitable organizations, reports that many babies are dying from “preventable causes” in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli blockade of food, water, and other supplies, as well as the massive bombing campaign, which has uprooted most of the territory’s nearly 2.4 million inhabitants.

“Amongst the horror and carnage in Gaza,” commented Oxfam Middle East Regional Director Sally Abi Khalil, “we are now at the abhorrent stage of babies dying because of diarrhea and hypothermia. It is shattering that newborns are coming into the world and due to the apocalyptic conditions, stand little chance of survival.”

She added that “our partners are telling us that in some cases, mothers are having to give birth in classrooms full of seventy people, with no medical support, dignity, or even basic hygiene. I don’t think there is anyone anywhere in the world that would disagree that is simply inhumane.”

Oxfam is working with its local partner organization Juzoor to support people in thirteen shelters in northern Gaza. Juzoor has mobilized a team of sixty health professionals, including doctors, nurses, midwives, and psychologists to provide care. Still, the challenge is overwhelming, with over 50,000 women in Gaza currently pregnant. About 180 births are occurring each day.

Even before the escalation of violence on October 7, the Gaza Strip had been under a less intense siege by the Israeli government and had one of the highest neonatal mortality rates in the world.

The number of Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli forces in the past month and a half is at least 14,800 people–by some estimates over 20,000 people–with more than half of them women and children. This is more than ten times the number of Israelis who were killed by Hamas guerrillas in the initial October 7 sortie out of Gaza.

As recently as yesterday, US President Joe Biden encouraged Israel to continue its military action against Gaza after a four-day truce, insisting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt “to eliminate Hamas [is] a legitimate objective.”

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