The UK government has announced new emergency funding to support women and girls in Gaza, where the ongoing humanitarian crisis has left many struggling
without access to basic healthcare and hygiene.
The £3 million package, delivered through the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), will provide midwives, mobile maternity units, and life-saving medical supplies to support pregnant women, new mothers, and newborns. It also includes menstrual hygiene kits for thousands of women and girls who have been left without essential items.
This comes at a time when famine has been officially declared in parts of Gaza, and health services are on the brink of collapse. Every day, around 130 women give birth in Gaza—many without safe access to hospitals, doctors, or even clean water.
The Foreign Secretary David Lammy said:
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains catastrophic, with famine in Gaza City and women and girls bearing the brunt of the suffering. The UK is doing all we can to improve the situation but we remain crystal clear: for aid to have impact, Israel must ensure it is allowed in and delivered safely and securely to civilians in desperate need.
“Gaza’s healthcare system has been decimated. With ongoing strikes on healthcare centres and most hospitals no longer functioning at all, pregnant women will be extremely anxious about giving birth safely.
“That’s why we’re announcing this support today as part of our sustained humanitarian assistance to the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“This new funding will help improve midwifery provisions and make giving birth safer. It is critical to improving the situation for mothers and their new-born babies.
“But this funding can only have maximum impact if the Government of Israel allows it. Israel must ensure protection of civilians including healthcare staff and health infrastructure, and enable the delivery of life saving medicines, medical equipment and healthcare supplies into Gaza.
“We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, a surge in aid and a framework to deliver long-term peace.”
UNFPA, which has already supported over a million people in Gaza with reproductive health services and protection against gender-based violence, said the UK’s contribution will be lifesaving.
Laila Baker, UNFPA Arab States Regional Director said:
“Women and girls are enduring increasingly horrific conditions in Gaza – with widespread malnutrition and disease putting the lives of pregnant and breastfeeding women and their babies at particular risk.
“This vital contribution from the United Kingdom will support UNFPA in providing lifesaving medicines, deploying mobile maternity units, and supporting midwives across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“With one in five babies in Gaza born prematurely or underweight, and maternal and neonatal services collapsing from fuel and supply shortages, UNFPA also reiterates its urgent call for unimpeded, sustained and demilitarized humanitarian aid into the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The UK is also partnering with Oxfam GB to distribute sustainable menstrual hygiene kits, made by social enterprise Reemi, which are designed for women and girls with limited access to clean water. More than 5,000 kits were already distributed in northern Gaza earlier this year.
As the crisis deepens, the message from aid agencies and the UK government is clear: women and girls in Gaza urgently need access to healthcare, dignity, and safety—and that requires immediate and unhindered humanitarian access. Photo by Matt Hrkac from Melbourne, Australia, Wikimedia commons.