A senior humanitarian official has described the reality in the Gaza Strip as nothing short of catastrophic, as one in four residents face starvation amid extensive devastation and the collapse of essential services. Births are now routinely taking place amid the devastation, with expectant mothers deprived of safe facilities, clean water or privacy. 

According to the official from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), thousands of pregnant women are malnourished, and newborns are emerging under-weight or prematurely because of the hostile environment in which they must be brought into the world.With almost all maternity wards damaged or destroyed, ambulances scarcely operational and standard sanitary provisions unavailable, childbirth has become a high-risk survival event rather than a medical milestone. 

The destruction of infrastructure and blockade of aid access are central to this situation: local production has collapsed, farmland is largely unusable and humanitarian relief arrives at a trickle. The overarching picture is one of a population stripped of dignity and survival options, and unless a sustained cessation of genocidal war is achieved, recovery remains out of reach.