In an exclusive interview with Al-Qaheera News Channel, Maryse Guimond, UN Women Special Representative in Palestine, sheds light on the devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza, particularly its impact on women and girls.

After more than 11 months of war, the health care system in Gaza has almost collapsed. Nearly 84 per cent of health facility buildings have been destroyed or damaged, and those remaining in service lack medicines, ambulances, basic life-saving treatment, electricity, and water.

“We thank God every day we wake up alive. We are like funerals postponed, dressed and ready to die, waiting for our turn”. In southern Gaza, 44-year-old Hayam Farahat is navigating life with her family amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

Female inmates in the correction and rehabilitation centres of the West Bank are battling with their mental health due to the lack of strong family and community ties and the harsh realities of violence they have faced. To address these challenges, the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) organized a specialized training programme for counsellors, with the support of the Sawasya Programme through UN Women Palestine.

Sanabel Ahmed Abusaid, 39, lives with her 13-year-old daughter, parents, and brother in Gaza. She is divorced and raises her daughter on her own. Her ex-husband lives in the Gulf. Apart from being a human rights and women’s rights activist, Sanabel has worked with civil society organizations in Gaza, including Women’s Affairs Centre, a UN Women Partner, where she is a Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning Advisor working to empower women and advocate for gender equality.

UN Women-supported project aims to reinforce women’s leadership and participation in emergency response, including COVID-19, and equitable recovery. It is part of a larger programme on “Advancing the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in Palestine.” Funded by Norway, this project aims at supporting the Palestinian institutions and civil society in implementing a National Action Plan (NAP) on UN Security Council Resolution 1325, and increasing women’s participation in emergency response and post-conflict recovery.

UN Women and UNFPA have received $3 Million from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (UN CERF) to primarily support women- and community-led organizations working to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in Palestine.

A One-Stop Centre in Ramallah has been pressed into service as medium-term safe accommoda-tion, a quarantine centre, and more, to ensure women have somewhere to escape violence at home throughout the pandemic and lockdown.

The provision of mental health and reintegration support services for women in detention is critical to ensuring their rehabilitation. A joint programme by UN Women, UNDP and UNICEF in Palestine is supporting such interventions in a manner that empowers women and make them able to cope with new challenges -such as the COVID-19 crisis- in constructive and positive ways. In addition to receiving psychosocial support, female inmates like Nada are learning new crafts such as mosaic, embroidery...

Ilham Edaes, a 28-year-old health worker in the West Bank, Palestine has been back to work, every day, since May, serving the hardest-to-reach communities through a mobile clinic that offers breast cancer screening. Edaes has a five-year-old son, Majd, who is growing up watching his parents share childcare and domestic chores – an unusual occurrence in the region, where domestic and unpaid care work is largely seen as women’s work.

Due to shortages in COVID-19 testing kits, coupled with an already paralyzed health sector, the authorities in Gaza have designated quarantine centres for those returning from abroad to avoid a major outbreak in one of the world’s most densely populated areas. The situation is particularly difficult for cancer patients, like Marwa, returning from treatment in Israel and in need of specialized medical help, as their weakened immune systems leave them at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.

Early into the COVID-19 crisis, UN Women, in partnership with Arab World for Research and Development, conducted in-depth interviews with Palestinian women in the West Bank and Gaza for a new study that sheds new light on the situation and needs of Palestinian women and girls.

UN Women Palestine Country Office launches a call for proposal for Civil Society Organizations engaged in research, monitoring, awareness and capacity development in the rule of law and community access to justice field in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in support to the implementation of the Rule of Law Joint Programme. Interested Civil Society Organizations have until Wednesday 6 May 2015 to submit their proposals.

Aftermath of conflicts are often followed by increased incidence of sexual and gender based violence, resulting in more demand for specialised services. Humanitarian assistance must address this specific issue. Following the last conflict in Gaza, UN Women and Japan have entered a new partnership to support increased access of female victims of gender-based violence in Gaza to protection services, with a particular focus on internally displaced women and girls and those living in overcrowded households.

Today, as head of the Palestinian Civil Police Family & Juvenile Protection Unit, Lieutenant Colonel Wafa Muammar is the highest-ranking female officer in the police, in spite of societal pressure to give up on her dream to serve the country through her work. Palestine, at just 17 per cent, has one of the lowest rates of female participation in the labour force globally. Muammar, a proud wife and mother of four, has had the courage to build a successful career in parallel, leading the way for other women in the police.