“It’s going to add a lot of confusion overall,” said Ajay Sethi, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 31 people were killed and 170 others were wounded.’s aid distribution has been marred by chaos in its first week of operations, and
on crowds near its delivery sites. Before Sunday, at least six people had been killed and more than 50 wounded, according to local health officials.The foundation says the private security contractors guarding its sites have not fired on the crowds. Israel’s military has acknowledged firing warning shots on previous occasions.The foundation said in a statement it distributed 16 truckloads of aid early Sunday “without incident,” and dismissed what it described as “false reporting about deaths, mass injuries and chaos.”
Thousands of people headed toward the distribution site in southern Gaza hours before dawn. As they approached, Israeli forces ordered them to disperse and come back later, witnesses said. When the crowds reached the Flag Roundabout, around 1 kilometer (half a mile) away, at around 3 a.m., Israeli forces opened fire, the witnesses said.“There was fire from all directions, from naval warships, from tanks and drones,” said Amr Abu Teiba, who was in the crowd.
He said he saw at least 10 bodies with gunshot wounds and several other wounded people, including women. People used carts to ferry the dead and wounded to a field hospital. “The scene was horrible,” he said.
Most people were shot “in the upper part of their bodies, including the head, neck and chest,” said Dr. Marwan al-Hams, a health ministry official at Nasser Hospital, where many of the wounded were transferred after being brought to the field hospital run by the Red Cross., Joseph’s organization relies heavily on philanthropy, which makes up about half its $3.5 million budget. This allows the clinics to accept patients who can pay little or nothing — and midwives to spend more time with them than most OB-GYNs could.
For women with no major health problems, research shows midwifery is cheaper globally than care led by OB-GYNs and leads to fewer medical procedures like C-sections, said Marian Knight, a professor of maternal and child population health at the University of Oxford in England. There areSome of Commonsense Childbirth’s patients with complications are referred to specialists, and most choose to give birth at a local hospital, where Joseph has forged strong ties, instead of in Commonsense’s on-site birthing rooms. They then return to a midwife for postpartum care.
Jennie Joseph, lead midwife and clinic director at the Commonsense Childbirth clinic talks with clients and staff. The midwives who run the program welcome vulnerable patients that other practices turn away, such as those who are uninsured or haven’t had prenatal care until late in pregnancy. (AP Photo/John Raoux)Jennie Joseph, lead midwife and clinic director at the Commonsense Childbirth clinic talks with clients and staff. The midwives who run the program welcome vulnerable patients that other practices turn away, such as those who are uninsured or haven’t had prenatal care until late in pregnancy. (AP Photo/John Raoux)