Palestinians wait in checkpoint
Photo: AFP
U.N.: Babies die in IDF checkpoints
According to a U.N. report, pregnant Palestinian women encountering delays in IDF checkpoints run a high risk of medical complications, death to newborns
Sixty-one women have given birth at Israeli checkpoints since 2000 due to delays in getting through the checkpoints, and 36 of their babies died as a result, the United Nations said on Thursday.
The incidents took place between September 2000 and December 2004, the World Health Organization said, relying on statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Delays in checkpoints
Palestinian women continue to encounter risky delays in 2005, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said in the U.N. Report, prepared for the U.N. General Assembly by the Geneva-based U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Fifteen pregnant women in 2004 and eight in 2005 were delayed at checkpoints in the Gaza Strip for one to two and a half hours while being transported to a hospital by a Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance, the U.N. Palestinian aid agency UNRWA said.
Of the eight blocked this year, one gave birth in the ambulance while a second, suffering from problems in her six-month pregnancy, aborted in the ambulance, UNRWA said.
'Risky roadside births'
Palestinians' access to medical facilities has been "Significantly impaired" Due to Israeli security procedures at checkpoints and its construction of a barrier in the West Bank aimed at preventing terrorists from infiltrating into Israel, the U.N. Population Fund UNFPA said.
Since 2001, UNFPA said it recorded more than 70 cases of women in labor who were delayed at checkpoints, resulting in "Unattended and risky roadside births, causing maternal as well as newborn deaths," The agency said.
In some cases, pregnant women had to change from one ambulance to another on the other side of a checkpoint when Israeli security forces would not let the ambulance through, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
Increase in home deliveries
A growing number of Palestinian women have responded by having Caesarean deliveries or giving birth at home rather than try to travel to a medical facility, increasing the risk of complications and maternal or infant death, UNFPA and Palestinian health authorities said.
There were 8 percent more home deliveries in the West Bank and 0.5 percent more in Gaza this year, according to statistics from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority were asked to provide information for the report but did not respond, the report said.
