Our Response in Gaza

Our immediate concern is for the safety of our colleagues in Palestine and Israel. Fortunately, our staff are all accounted for, but those in Gaza are at imminent risk. We are monitoring the situation closely and providing support as the crisis unfolds. 

Our Member Association in Palestine, the Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association (PFPPA)’s only health center in Gaza was destroyed on 8 October when an Israeli airstrike hit an adjacent building. Our staff in northern Gaza are sheltering from constant bombardments and are providing care to people in their community with limited supplies and resources, whilst under a total blockade of medical commodities. Click here to read more about the impact on Palestinian health workers, in their own words.

Our Member Association in Israel, Open Door Israel, has closed four clinics that offer services to young people since the outbreak of fighting. Work has started again through telephone and digital counseling and they are receiving a number of calls each day. We strongly denounce the sexual and gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence reported in Israel and we stand ready to support our local colleagues and clients in Israel with any emergency sexual and reproductive healthcare services required. 

Women and girls’ need for reproductive health care is not suspended in crises, and sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice remain essential. One-quarter of people affected by crises are women and girls aged 15-49. One in five women are likely to be pregnant and one and five of all deliveries will experience complications. In conflict settings there is also a heightened risk of early marriage, rape and sexual violence, unsafe abortions and unattended births. Transmission rates of STIs, including HIV, increase in emergencies.

The experiences of individuals with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities must not be discounted in conflict settings. We recognize that those coming from marginalized communities including those living with HIV/AIDS, LGBTQI+ communities and others are made even more vulnerable by the escalation of violence. Without proper data collection of sexual and reproductive health care needs, as well as protected characteristics including gender identity and sexual orientation, the unique impact on marginalized groups will not be properly identified, measured or addressed.

Click here to read more about how women and girls are affected in crises.

IPPF is working closely with our local partner, the Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association (PFPPA), to establish the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls in both Gaza and the West Bank. Health workers on the ground are delivering services and care as best they can, with extremely minimal resources.

However, like most other humanitarian organizations, IPPF and PFPPA have been prevented from distributing sufficient aid to address the enormous scale of need amid Israel’s relentless bombardment on Gaza. A full and immediate ceasefire is the only viable solution to prevent thousands more deaths, including maternal and newborn deaths. We must be able to coordinate a broad aid operation into Gaza with our partners safely and peacefully. 

Once it is safe for our teams to enter Gaza, our response will include mobile health services, including pre and postnatal care, contraceptive provisions, and referrals to healthcare facilities for safe deliveries. 

In the meantime, we have launched an appeal to relocate our clinic to a safer area in order to continue delivering services. We will continue to establish the SRH needs of women and girls in Gaza and the West Bank and respond accordingly through mobile health services, referrals, and medicine provision. 

Click here to donate to our appeal.

IPPF is a providing a humanitarian response to our local member association, Open Door Israel, to support their emergency clinic in Tel Aviv and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of sexual and reproductive health services, including: counselling for sexual and gender-based violence, contraception (including emergency contraception) and abortion counselling. Open Door is also providing outreach and telehealth services to young people who have been displaced or who are unable to access in-person services due to safety concerns. Hotlines and online platforms for individuals to access accurate information on sexual and reproductive health, contraceptive methods, and sexual violence prevention are also being established.

Due to the 15 year blockade in Gaza, nearly 50% of the population in Palestine was in need of humanitarian assistance prior to this latest escalation of violence. There was already a dire lack of sufficient SRHR medical supplies, resources and equipment.  29.4% of Palestinian women have experienced violence, with 13.4% of women married under the age of 18.

The ongoing occupation and escalation of hostilities, together with a deepening financial crisis and a surge in commodity prices due to the impact of the war in Ukraine, have pushed people in Palestine into greater vulnerability. There are many sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice challenges including lack of key services, widespread misconceptions and stigma, and growing oppositional conservatism. COVID-19 impacts have resulted in increased domestic violence and reduced access for women and girls to shelter, support and health services. 

Click here to read more about our work in Palestine.

Yes. Rape and sexual violence are a grave violation of human rights at any time, but if committed as part of an armed conflict, can constitute as a war crime. The scale of violence continuing to be committed against civilians is sadly, a choice that is being made minute by minute by men wielding disproportionate amounts of power and influence. Additional violence and perpetration will happen on the backs of women, girls and the most marginalized. They will need the sexual and reproductive health and rights care, services and support of IPPF now, and in the long-term. 

IPPF unequivocally condemns rape and all other forms of conflict-related sexual violence. These crimes must be rigorously and independently investigated by the appropriate entities mandated to investigate violations of international humanitarian law and abuses of international human rights law. There are no justifications and no excuses for these crimes, regardless of who commits them or against whom they are committed.

As evidence emerges about the gendered nature of the violence against Israeli women at the hands of Hamas during the 7 October attacks, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, we acknowledge the importance of the investigative work being undertaken by the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupation Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. This Commission was established by the Human Rights Council in 2021, and has opened its call for submissions on gender-based crimes since 7 October. We also support the submission of alleged crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court via the OTPLink. The evidence collected through these processes forms a key component in achieving justice for survivors and their families, as well as for those that were killed in the 7 October attacks and for those that are being held hostage.

It is absolutely vital that conflict-related sexual violence is independently investigated in both Israel and Palestine – and in all global settings where it occurs.

IPPF works with over 145 Member Associations and Collaborative Partners around the world to advance sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice. Our work is wide-ranging, and includes comprehensive sex education, provision of contraceptives, safe abortion care, and maternal care. At the heart of our mandate is the provision of – and advocacy in support of – integrated healthcare to anyone who needs it regardless of race, gender, sex, income, and crucially, no matter how remote. 

IPPF’s duty lies in providing lifesaving sexual and reproductive healthcare to women, girls and other marginalized people caught up in humanitarian crises. 

Click here to read more about our work