(MENAFN) A top UN representative issued a grave warning on Wednesday, stating that women and newborns in the Gaza Strip are enduring severe hunger, increasing fatalities, and a total breakdown of maternal health care.

The situation, he said, mirrors scenes from “a dystopian film.”

“In Gaza, I was not fully prepared for what I saw – one cannot be. The sheer extent of the devastation looked like the set of a dystopian film,” remarked Andrew Saberton, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), during a press briefing addressing the condition of women and girls in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“There is no other way to put it: Gaza has been flattened. Mile upon mile of rubble and dust, with few buildings left intact. I cannot unsee what I have seen,” he continued, describing the widespread destruction across the enclave.

Saberton emphasized that UNFPA personnel themselves have been deeply affected by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

“Every single UNFPA staff member in the Gaza office has experienced the death or multiple deaths of relatives, and almost all have had their or their families’ homes destroyed. And yet they have turned up every day for two years, no escape, no time off,” he stated, commending their resilience.

Highlighting the dire humanitarian conditions, Saberton explained that “many women in Gaza have lost everything,” adding that they are unable to “access the most basic personal hygiene supplies when they are menstruating.”

He further reported that displaced families are now taking refuge “in half-destroyed buildings, or ragtag tents by the side of the road,” underscoring the immense hardship faced by Gaza’s civilian population.

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