"Un niveau d’indignité absolument effroyable" : à Gaza, le calvaire des femmes qui n'ont plus accès aux soins ni à l'hygiène
Two years of war in Gaza. On October 7, 2023, several attacks carried out by Hamas commandos in Israel left at least 1,200 dead in Israel, the majority of them civilians. More than 66,000 Palestinians, including nearly 20,000 children, have been killed in Israel's retaliatory military campaign in the Gaza Strip, according to the most recent data from the Hamas government's Gaza Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
The past two years have been marked by repeated displacement for residents of the Palestinian enclave, some of whom say they no longer know where to go. While this Palestinian territory lacks everything, the heavy and silent toll paid by women caught the attention of an Australian nurse returning from Gaza.
"When a woman has her period, everyone around her knows."
Access to toilets, periods, childbirth... After two months spent in Gaza this summer, Kirsty Blacka recounts the ordeal of Gazan women. "Women suffer an additional indignity. Now, since everyone unfortunately lives in tents, when a woman has her period, everyone around her knows. They can't wash the fabrics and rags they use as protection out of sight."
Sanitary pads are hard to find in Gaza and often prohibitively expensive. Kirsty Blacka managed to smuggle in a few reusable pads. A drop in the ocean of need.
"Women, like children and people with disabilities, should use garbage bags as diapers." Kirsty Blacka on franceinfo.
The nurse also warns of cases of "women with uterine infections because of what they use instead of pads." "Most women also struggle to breastfeed due to malnutrition. They can't feed their babies. So they rely on formula milk, which is also banned from entering Gaza. Once again, the situation there is extreme. It causes a level of indignity for people that is absolutely appalling," warns the Australian caregiver.
Witnesses on the scene report that some women are now drinking as little water as possible to avoid having to queue for long periods to access toilets, which now lack even the most basic hygiene.
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