Palestine authorities have said the estimated figure of 9,000 women death in the on-going attacks in Gaza by Israeli forces is an underestimation, decrying that at current rate of attack, an average of 63 women will continue to be killed daily.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja at the weekend, the Palestine Ambassador to Nigeria, Abdullah Abu Shawesh, lamented that as of March 6, 30,717 Palestinians had been killed and 72,156 injured, with 8000 still missing under the rubble, alleging that the Israeli occupation force had denied rescue teams access to reach and save those trapped under the rubbles.
Shawesh who also alleged that as at last Monday, the Israeli army had killed 364 medical staff members and arrested 269, including hospital directors, noted that they had also targeted 155 health institutions, put 32 hospitals and 53 health centres out of service, and targeted 126 ambulances.
The envoy who raised an alarm that epidemic might soon erupt in the war torn area, noted that they had detected about one million cases of infectious diseases.
He added “As of March 4, 16 infants have died due to severe malnutrition and drought resulting from the strict Israeli military blockade and the war of starvation policy it imposed.”
Shawesh said though the UN Women issued seven facts proved that the war on Gaza was also a war on women, but claimed that the figure of casualties may have been underestimated.
He said: “An estimated 9,000 women have been reportedly killed by Israeli forces in Gaza to date. This figure is likely an underestimation, as many more women are reported to be dead under the rubble. Every day the war in Gaza continues, at the current rate, an average of 63 women will continue to be killed. An estimated 37 mothers are killed every day, leaving their families devastated and their children with diminished protection. More than 4 out of 5 women (84 per cent) report that their family eats half or less of the food they used to before the war began, with mothers and adult women being those tasked with sourcing food, yet eating last, less, and least than everyone else.
”As of today, 12 Palestinian prisoners have been killed in the last 153 days, including Ahmad Qadeeh, a 78-year-old who was detained with his family on February 7 and subjected to torture.”
He said regarding the Gazans prisoners, according to Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, “27 Gaza detainees have died in custody at Israeli military facilities since the outbreak of the war, according to figures obtained by Haaretz.”
Shawesh claimed this meant that the death toll of Palestinian prisoners was 39 since the eruption of the current Israeli genocidal war.
Shawesh said: “The total number of Palestinian political prisoners is 9,100, with 3,558 administrative detainees, 57 women, and 200 children as of March 5. These figures exclude detainees from Gaza.”
He lamented that the Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
