"We don’t know what’s going to happen to these women and their newborn babies," said Executive Director of PFPPA Ammal Awadallah. "Our clinic is unusable and our options to provide referrals to hospitals are decreasing by the hour. I can’t stress enough how dire the situation is and how desperately we need humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza."
Thr group posted a video of the destruction, asking for donations to be able to move to a safer place within Gaza.
The facility was destroyed on October 8, and the siege of Gaza by Israel began on October 10. International humanitarian groups have warned of a pending humanitarian crisis as Gaza suffers the impact of Israeli retaliation against the massacre of Israeli civilians perpetrated by Hamas on Saturday. Strikes from Israel began on Sunday after Israeli officials warned Palestinians in Gaza to flee the area. A ground invasion is expected.
Israel shut down electricity and water, as well as the flow of goods and supplies to Gaza. The Rafah crossing to Egypt also came under fire from the IDF. Hamas has reportedly been planning this attack for two years. They took control of Gaza in 2005 when Israel withdrew from the area, taking some 9,000 Israeli's who had settled on the Gaza side of the border with them.
The mission of PFPPA is to provide sexual and reproductive health services and education, as well as "the right of women to choose the number and time of safe pregnancies as well as a safe abortion for medical reasons." Abortion is only legal in Palestinian territories when the mother's physical health is endangered or if both parents consent to terminate a pregnancy due to fetal abnormalities. Women who undergo illegal abortions can face one to three years in prison. For the crime of terminating pregnancies that result for rape or incest, the term can be reduced to 6-12 months.
They have clinics in the West Bank Areas of Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and Halhoul.
