We cannot look away from the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.

Hospitals are being evacuated across Gaza, including two that provide emergency obstetric care for pregnant women. Meanwhile, health services in Lebanon have also been severely disrupted. A least 98 primary health centers have been forced to close in the last year, and five hospitals are no longer functioning.

Samah, a Lebanese mother of three, became a refugee just three days after undergoing a C-section delivery.

“We were close when the strike happened, and the night became day – bright as if the sun had risen,” she told us.

She fled to the Syrian border, but she and her children traveled part of the way on foot. "I wrapped my stomach with a clean cloth, carried my son and went down to the border," she said.

Fearful of infection, Samah sought care at a clinic once she and her children reached the border. The UNFPA-supported medical team there examined her C-section wound and assured Samah that both she and her newborn were in good health.

"The moment I saw the pediatrician check my baby and the nurses care for my wound, I felt hope again," Samah said. "They gave me antibiotics, nutrients, and more than that, they gave me a sense of safety."

As forced displacement in Gaza and Lebanon plunges the lives of tens of thousands more pregnant women and new mothers like Samah into chaos, they are urgently counting on your support for lifesaving maternal health care today.

Please rush an emergency gift to deliver lifesaving care to women and girls in Gaza, Lebanon, and wherever people need it most.

We condemn the violence in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel, and echo the UN Secretary-General’s call for a sustained humanitarian ceasefire and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages by Hamas. The suffering must end and peace must prevail.

Thank you for not looking away from this worsening crisis.

— USA for UNFPA