‘Generation on the brink of death,’ says UN

“The scale of suffering for new mothers and their babies in Gaza is beyond understanding,” said Laila Baker, regional director for UNFPA Arab states. “Every mother and every child deserve the right to safe childbirth and a healthy start. What we are witnessing is a systematic denial of these fundamental rights, bringing an entire generation on the brink of death,” he added.

According to her, hospitals and health facilities that remain partially functional – most have been damaged or destroyed – are increasingly losing the ability to keep mothers and babies alive.

“Seventy percent of essential medicines are sold out and half of all medical equipment is damaged, severely reducing access to essential care for newborns by 70%,” the entity warned.

The collapse of referral systems, with reduced ambulance services to the minimum, and the serious lack of transport means that pregnant women cannot access prenatal care or reach hospitals for childbirth, transforming treatable complications into preventable deaths.

For the UN, however, one of the obstacles is the veto for the entry of humanitarian aid.

“Only UNFPA has 170 trucks loaded with extremely necessary supplies, including maternity units in containers, maternal health medicines, ultrasounds and portable incubators, which have been retained at the borders since the beginning of March 2025,” he says, which calls for urgent access to the territories in Gaza.