In Gaza, Palestinian women yearn for lost privacy and dignity

By Rabia Ali

ISTANBUL (AA) - Before Israel launched its deadly assault on Gaza last October, Maram Humaid, a journalist, had some semblance of a normal life in Gaza – as normal as life could be in an area under siege for decades.

Humaid, her husband and two kids lived in an apartment in Gaza City, but today, like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, she finds herself displaced, yearning for home.

She now shares a cramped room with several others, where she has a small corner and a mattress for herself and her kids, lacking the very basic human need of privacy.

“I had my own place ... and then you are thrown out in the streets and in relatives’ home. I don’t have a room. I’m sleeping in a room with 15 family members,” she told Anadolu on the phone from Gaza.

To use the shared toilet, Humaid has to queue up, and to change her clothes, she tries to find a place away from the public gaze, as there is “no room for privacy.”

On International Women’s Day, Anadolu spoke to women in Gaza about life in the midst of death, destruction and depravity – and all of them highlighted how Israel’s deadly onslaught has stripped Palestinian women of their privacy, safety and dignity.

Since Oct. 7, at least 9,000 women have been killed by Israeli forces and thousands of others injured.

Hundreds of thousands more have been displaced from their homes, facing conditions that are nothing short of catastrophic.

They are living in overwhelmed shelters, having no privacy – and even medicines or anesthesia – while delivering babies, compelled to wear their headscarves and modest clothing at all times in case there is a bombing and they have to evacuate.

There is no food or clean water, and hygiene and healthcare issues are massive, including the lack of basic medicines and necessities like sanitary pads.

- Displacement and loss of privacy

Maram Faraj, 26, who worked as an English teacher at a language institute in Gaza, also spoke about the lack of personal space and privacy.

“There is no privacy at all because we are all displaced. We are not the only ones,” she said.

Her home was destroyed in the very first week of Israel’s attacks, and she has been displaced four times since then.

With a weak internet connection, Faraj spoke to Anadolu from her current shelter, a refugee camp in Rafah, where she is staying with her family.

She remembers the time when she was sheltering in her aunt’s house in the south of Gaza – 130 people in one house.

She wears the hijab, or headscarf, and is forced to keep it on even when sleeping.

“We have to wear our hijab all the time, even when we sleep, because we don’t know if we … will be bombed and have to flee,” she said.

For journalist Humaid, one of the most jarring experiences has been to see all these women in such vulnerable positions.

“We in Gaza … used to live before the war in a conservative society where women are just the queens in their homes,” she explained.

“They never had to face such dire conditions or … stay in public like this with these clothes. Now they find themselves in the streets, in open areas and shelters, living with thousands of people.”

- Health and hygiene challenges

All women in Gaza are also facing the challenge of sanitation and basic hygiene.

For those in tents and camps, the situation is worse.

Faraj says they have long waits in lines for the makeshift toilets in the refugee camp.

Humaid points out that those living in tents do not even have bathrooms or a place to shower.

“Women here have told me that didn’t shower for more than two weeks. They used to shower every day in their homes,” she said.

Another woman told her how she misses brushing her teeth.

“It’s a struggle. It’s a daily struggle to go to the bathroom and to wash your face,” says Humaid.

Another problem is the lack of water and sanitary pads, which has forced women to use old pieces of cloth as substitutes.

Haya Ihab Sisalem, a 20-year-old Palestinian now in Egypt, recalled how particularly tough it is for menstruating women.

“There is no clean water to take a shower after they get their periods,” she told Anadolu.

There was no place to sit or sleep, nor pills or medicine to help with the menstrual cramps, she added.

- Pregnant and young mothers

Sisalem, who was in her third year at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University studying English and French literature, shudders thinking about how her friend gave birth out in the open.

“One of my friends had her baby on the floor, literally on the floor of the hospital. It was so hard. Can you imagine how hard that is?” she said in a conversation with Anadolu.

She was displaced from her home in the north of Gaza and moved to a friend’s grandparents’ house with several others in the south, before eventually crossing into Egypt.

Journalist Humaid, who had a baby just a few days before Israel launched its war, considers herself lucky.

There are no facilities left for pregnant women, no painkillers after C-sections, no post-natal care, she said.

“When they come back from hospitals, they sleep in tents in the cold with their babies,” she said.

This exposes them to many health problems and, on top of that, there is the problem of bathrooms because they simply are not able to wait for hours in line, she added.

- Violation of privacy by Israeli soldiers

Palestinian women also spoke about the images of Israeli soldiers rummaging through the wardrobes of women and posing with their lingerie and underwear.

“Unfortunately, these pictures show the mentality of Israeli soldiers. The way they are violating Palestinian women’s privacy is really distressing,” said Humaid.

No one has the right to open a woman’s wardrobe or to touch her clothes, she asserted.

These violations of privacy tell a lot about the nature of the occupation that Palestinians are subjected to and are living under, she added.

“This also tells us about the ethics of the Israeli army and the Israeli soldiers, who are just deliberately doing this,” said Humaid.

These “unacceptable” actions should be strongly condemned by all international organizations advocating for women, she said.

“Palestinian women should be respected. Their privacy should be respected,” said Humaid.