News - Middle East: As the crisis in Gaza passes its 200th day, ActionAid is warning that Gaza is becoming a graveyard for women and girls. At least 70% of the more than 34,000 people killed in the last six-and-a-half months have been women and children, ActionAid said in a statement on Thursday.

The statement said that nowhere in Gaza is safe from death and destruction. 

"At least 18 children were killed during airstrikes on Rafah at the weekend, according to reports, along with a pregnant woman, whose baby doctors managed to save via an emergency cesarean," it added. 

It pointed out that airstrikes have been particularly intense in Rafah, Deir Al Balah, and Gaza City, according to UNOCHA, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering there in fear for their lives.

The international organization explained that women and girls have been impacted by the crisis in Gaza in unique ways over the last 200 days. With only three of the 11 partially functioning hospitals in the territory currently able to provide maternity care, according to UNFPA, pregnant women are having to give birth without adequate care or medical supplies, including antibiotics and painkillers. 

"Extreme food shortages are leaving many women so malnourished that they are unable to breastfeed their newborn babies, while some expectant mothers have experienced miscarriages very late in their pregnancies as a result of malnutrition," it added. 

Israel initiated its offensive on Gaza on October 7 following actions by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group in response to Israeli provocations against Palestinians.

Additionally, the Tel Aviv regime has imposed a severe blockade on the territory, severely limiting access to fuel, electricity, food, and water for the more than two million Palestinians residing there.