Derry Councillor calls on support for Women's Day March for Gaza

Derry Councillor calls on the people of Derry to get out and support the International Women's Day March for Gaza.

The march in Derry, organised by Alliance for Choice and Derry Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign will assemble at Bishop's Gate at 1pm on Saturday 9th of March, and has been formally supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council.

Councillor Shaun Harkin described the bleak reality of life for women in Gaza at the hands of 'Israel's barbarism'.

"UN statistics from Gaza reveal a harrowing reality for women and girls in Palestine. As of now, 67% of all casualties in the Gaza genocide are women and children," the People Before Profit Councillor said.

“Every day, 420 children are killed or injured. 70% of casualties during Israel’s military assault on Gaza are women and children.

“The access to health care for women in Gaza has completely collapsed.

“94,000 women and girls lacked access to sexual and reproductive health services before October, and this figure has now risen to over 1 million.

“Pregnant women are giving birth under dire conditions, with an estimated 183 women giving birth every day, 15% of whom will face complications.”

He said the ‘entire population faces starvation’ due to ‘the apartheid regime's continued blockade of humanitarian aid.’

“There is no more dangerous place in the world right now to be a woman than Gaza.

“Despite all this, Joe Biden and his administration continue to send unlimited amounts of bombs and bullets in full complicity with Israel's genocidal war.

“You can't claim to support women's equality and back Israel's barbarism in Gaza.

“As we celebrate International Women's Day and the fight against oppression, no one can forget the suffering of Palestinian women and girls.

“People Before Profit are proud to support this event. Following our proposal Derry City and Strabane District Council gave it official backing.”

Meanwhile, UN experts have expressed alarm 'over credible allegations of egregious human rights violations to which Palestinian women and girls continue to be subjected in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank'.

Members of the the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, the largest body of independent experts in the UN human rights system, warned of arbitrary executions in Gaza.

“Palestinian women and girls have reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children, according to information received,” the experts said.

They expressed ‘serious concern’ about the ‘arbitrary detention’ of hundreds of Palestinian women and girls, including human rights defenders, journalists and humanitarian workers.

On at least one occasion, Palestinian women detained in Gaza were allegedly ‘kept in a cage in the rain and cold, without food’.

Women have allegedly been denied menstruation pads, food and medicine, and severely beaten.

“We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing. Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces.

“We are particularly distressed by reports that Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence.”

The experts also expressed concern about an unknown number of Palestinian women and children, including girls, who have reportedly gone missing after contact with the Israeli army in Gaza.

“There are disturbing reports of at least one female infant forcibly transferred by the Israeli army into Israel, and of children being separated from their parents, whose whereabouts remain unknown,” they said.