The Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association is a Palestinian sexual and reproductive health NGO, founded in Jerusalem in 1964. [1] The PFPPA is affiliated with the International Planned Parenthood Federation. [2] In 2014 it provided services to more than 70,000 women. [3] In 2019 it had eight clinics in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. [4] It also provides services through telemedicine. [4]
Abortion is largely illegal in Palestine. The PFPPA does not provide abortion care at its clinics, but does provide referrals to doctors who are willing to do so. [3] The PFPPA supports "the right of women to choose the number and time of safe pregnancies as well as a safe abortion for medical reasons." [5] The group describes itself as taking a harm reduction approach to abortion care. [6]
The PFPPA's clinic in Gaza was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in October 2023. [7] Thabat Salim, a doctor employed by the group, was killed in another airstrike (in the Nuseirat refugee camp) in January 2025. [8]
Jabalia, also spelled Jabalya, is a city in the State of Palestine located 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) north of Gaza City, in the North Gaza Governorate of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Jabalia had a population of 172,704 in 2017. The Jabalia refugee camp is adjacent to the city to the north. The nearby town of Nazla is a part of the Jabalia municipality.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization that provides reproductive and sexual healthcare and sexual education in the United States and globally. It is a member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
Anti-abortion violence is violence committed against individuals and organizations that perform abortions or provide abortion counseling. Incidents of violence have included destruction of property, including vandalism; crimes against people, including kidnapping, stalking, assault, attempted murder, and murder; and crimes affecting both people and property, as well as arson and terrorism, such as bombings.
Al-Azhar University – Gaza, often abbreviated AUG, is a Palestinian, public, non-profit, and independent higher education institution. During the first intifada, Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat issued a decree in September 1991 to establish a Palestinian national university. AUG opened on 18 October 1991 in a two-story building with 725 students enrolled in two faculties; the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Sharia and Law.
The Islamic University of Gaza, also known as IUG and IU Gaza, is an independent Palestinian university established in 1978 in Gaza City. It was the first higher education institution to be established in the Gaza Strip. The university has 11 faculties capable of awarding BA, BSc, MA, MSc, MD, PhD, diplomas and higher diplomas, in addition to 20 research centers and institutes and the affiliated Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital.
Incidents in the Gaza War include incidents involving attacks against civilians, a school, a mosque, and naval confrontations.
Palestinian women have played an important role in the region throughout many historical changes including Ottoman control, the British Mandate, and Israeli control. Women were involved in the founding of the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964 and the later establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, working to shape and redefine the roles of women in Palestine and across the Palestinian diaspora. Arab women have been involved in resistance movements in Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century.
Medical neutrality refers to a principle of noninterference with medical services in times of armed conflict and civil unrest: physicians must be allowed to care for the sick and wounded, and soldiers must receive care regardless of their political affiliations; all parties must refrain from attacking and misusing medical facilities, transport, and personnel. Concepts comprising the principles of medical neutrality derive from international human rights law, medical ethics and humanitarian law. Medical neutrality may be thought of as a kind of social contract that obligates societies to protect medical personnel in both times of war and peace, and obligates medical personnel to treat all individuals regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or political affiliation. Violations of medical neutrality constitute crimes outlined in the Geneva Conventions.
Healthcare in the State of Palestine refers to the governmental and private healthcare providers to which residents in the claimed territory have access. Since 1967, there have been improvements in the access to healthcare and the overall general health conditions for residents. Advances in training, increased access to state-of-the-art medical technology, and various governmental provisions have allowed per-capita funding to increase, and therefore the overall health of residents in the region to increase. Additionally, the enhanced access to and funding from international organizations like the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and the World Bank Education and Health Rehabilitation Project have contributed to the current state of affairs within the healthcare segment of the Palestinian territories.
The Holy Family Church of Gaza City is the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, State of Palestine.
Quds News Network is a Palestinian youth news agency founded in 2011. The agency is staffed with volunteer correspondents across Palestine. The network gained widespread following on social media around 2015 through its fast distribution video coverage of escalations in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which had made it as popular as Al Jazeera, appealing particularly to young Palestinians.
The year 2023 in Israel was defined first by wide-scale protests against a proposed judicial reform, and then by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which led to a war and to Israel invading the Gaza Strip.
Events in the year 2023 in Palestine.
On 3 November 2023, amid the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip and siege of Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike hit an ambulance convoy departing from al-Shifa Hospital carrying critically injured patients. The strike killed 15 people and wounded at least 60. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), which was part of the convoy, said that all 15 people killed were civilians. The airstrike also caused damage to the hospital itself.
A significant number of attacks on healthcare facilities occurred during the Gaza war. During the first week of the war, there were 94 attacks on health care facilities in Israel and Gaza, killing 29 healthcare workers and injuring 24. The attacks on healthcare facilities contributed to a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza. By 30 November, the World Health Organization documented 427 attacks on healthcare in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, resulting in 566 fatalities and 758 injuries. By February 2024, it was reported that "every hospital in Gaza is either damaged, destroyed, or out of service due to lack of fuel." By April, WHO had verified 906 attacks on healthcare in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon. As of June 2024, according to WHO, Israel has attacked 464 health care facilities, killed 727 health care workers, injured 933 health care workers, and damaged or destroyed 113 ambulances
During the Israel–Hamas war, the healthcare system of Gaza was destroyed by Israeli attacks on hospitals and health facilities, killing of healthcare workers, and blockade of medical supplies from entering Gaza. The resulting collapse of the healthcare system was part of a broader humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip caused by the war.
Many health workers have been killed during attacks on medical facilities and medical transport in the Gaza war. Although the injuries happened both on the Israeli side and on the Palestinian side, most of these attacks were carried out by Israeli forces against Palestinians.
As a result of the Gaza war, children have been disproportionately impacted in the Gaza Strip, where 40% of the population is 14 or under. In November 2023, UNICEF reported that more than 700,000 children in Gaza were displaced. A dire humanitarian crisis, with reports of children suffering from a serious epidemic of gastroenteritis due to the lack of clean water, led to concerns amongst health officials and aid organizations. Speaking to reporters early in the conflict, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that "Gaza is becoming a graveyard for children. Hundreds of girls and boys are reportedly being killed or injured every day." As of August 2024, at least 115 newborns had been reported killed since October 2023.
According to Article 8 of Palestinian Public Health Law No. 20, abortion is legal only to save the life of the pregnant woman. Anecdotal reports suggest that prosecutions are rare. Abortion access in the occupied Palestinian territories is greatly impacted by Israel's military occupation and the resulting travel restrictions and conflicting legal systems.