Gaza women face humanitarian crisis amid Israeli attacks as world celebrates Women’s Day

By Mohamad Majed Mustafa Haboush and Muhammed Emin Canik

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Palestinian women in Gaza have been enduring Israeli attacks, leading to death, injury, displacement, and detention, for the past five months amid a tightened blockade and humanitarian catastrophe.

For 154 days, Palestinian women in the besieged enclave have been targeted by Israel. They are grappling with hunger and limited access to basic facilities as they strive to care for their children amidst dire conditions.

On the occasion of International Women's Day celebrated worldwide on March 8, the government media office in the Gaza Strip issued a statement regarding the situation of women in the Palestinian territory under Israeli attacks.

According to the statement, since Oct.7, 2023, the Israeli attacks have left at least 8,900 women killed and 23,000 others injured, with 2,100 those whose fate remains unknown.

Over half a million Palestinian women have been displaced and sought refuge in shelters across the Gaza Strip after Israel demolished their houses.

It is reported that many Palestinian women in Gaza have been detained by Israeli soldiers and their fate remains unknown.

Israel's destruction of the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip has left nearly 60,000 pregnant women without access to essential health services, jeopardizing the lives of both Palestinian women and their babies.

- 63 women in Gaza killed daily

The plight of women in Gaza, and their struggle for survival against Israeli attacks, has also been reflected in UN data.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) announced that an average of 63 women, including 37 mothers who leave their families behind, are killed every day in Israel's attacks in Gaza.

At the beginning of March, UN Women emphasized that Israel's atrocities leave Gaza residents hungry and thirsty, significantly increasing the burden on Gazan women.

“Four in five women (84%) in Gaza indicate that at least one of their family members had to skip meals during the past week. In 95% of those cases, mothers are the ones going without food, skipping at least one meal to feed their children,” UN Women said.

Nearly nine in 10 women in Gaza reported it is harder for them to access food than men.

In the aid-starved Gaza where children have died of malnutrition, some Palestinian women are forced to search for food in the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel or in garbage.

- Psychological pressure

Women who manage to survive Israeli attacks also face serious psychological pressures under harsh living conditions.

Women facing a lack of sanitary pads in the Strip are negatively affected both physically and psychologically.

According to the UN, more than 690,000 menstruating women and adolescent girls in the Gaza Strip need menstrual hygiene products, clean water, toilets, and privacy.

In the war-torn Strip, in shelters overwhelmed by the influx of people due to Israeli attacks, there are often no shower facilities, and hundreds of individuals may have to share the same toilet.

Israel has waged a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7. The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed over 30,800 people and injured more than 72,000 others with mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan in Istanbul