WOMEN from the West Midlands are to deliver a truckload of hygiene and sanitary items to Gaza.

Fundraising began in the region today to mark International Women’s Day and comes in response to Gazan woman being forced to use scraps of paper and fabric from tents as sanitary towels.

The Birmingham team are supporters of humanitarian charity ISRA-UK, which says that 700,000 women and girls in Gaza are struggling to manage with limited or no access to sanitary items.

They plan to take a 40ft container of sanitary materials to Gaza.

Team leader Saraya Hussain said: “We are on a mission to get hygiene products to the women and girls of Gaza, as requested by our Palestinian partners on the ground there.

“The situation there is dire and desperate and the women need us. 

"They’ve requested our help and we need people to donate, help us fundraise for sanitary items and join our deployment group if they can commit to this endeavour.”

The charity said the people of Gaza have to go weeks without washing or showering.

“Lacking clean water, women and girls on their periods are unable to wash themselves and stay clean,” Ms Hussain said.

“Many women are being forced to use period products or substitutes for longer than is safe.

“Sanitary pads are so scarce in Gaza right now that one girl sheltering in an United Nations school in the Maghazi camp had to resort to washing used pads with soap, causing her serious skin irritation, but she had no other choice.”