Gaza’s only Planned Parenthood-affiliated clinic was rendered ‘unusable’ after Israeli forces destroyed an adjacent building in a strike targeting Hamas.
The Gaza Strip’s only Planned Parenthood-affiliated clinic “was destroyed” this week by an Israeli military air strike against Hamas targets that destroyed an adjacent building, the organization has said.
The clinic, run by the Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association (PFPPA), was the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s (IPPF) only “local member” in Gaza.
In a statement on Thursday, PFPPA said their center “was destroyed” on Oct. 8 “following an Israeli airstrike to an adjacent building.”
The organization took a critical tone, claiming that women in Gaza were already being denied “sexual and reproductive health care and rights” under 16 years of “Israeli occupation,” and that following the recent Israeli strikes against Hamas, the center was now “completely cut off” from providing its services.
Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip for 16 years after it seized power in a violent coup. Israel withdrew its forces and settlements in 2005.
The PFPPA center was destroyed one day after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack in southern Israel.
The Iran-backed Islamic terror group murdered over 1,300 men, women, and children, and injured over 3,000 more, in Israeli border towns last weekend. Hamas also fired a barrage of more than 4,500 rockets, abducted women and children, and engaged in acts of rape and torture on a massive scale.
Israel declared a state of war following the attacks.
The Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) response has focused on striking senior Hamas officials and commanders, as well as infrastructure such as financial, construction, command and control, intelligence, research, and development.
Israeli Air Force strikes have targeted various neighborhoods of the Gaza Strip that had “lots of cameras, infrastructure, and other facilities.”
The purpose of the strikes, an IDF spokesperson has said, is to ensure “that Hamas will no longer have any ability to strike, harm, kill any Israeli civilians.”
The Israeli military also recently warned Gaza civilians in the north to evacuate to the south of the enclave as it prepares for ground military operations in the coming days. The IDF charged that Hamas will use Palestinians as “human shields.”
