'More than 9,000 women killed in Gaza, this must stop': UN Women

By Serife Cetin

NEW YORK (AA) - More than 9,000 women have been killed in the Gaza Strip in the five-month-old conflict between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas, and "this must stop," the executive director of UN Women said on Friday.

At an event marking International Women's Day at the UN's New York headquarters, Sima Bahous stressed that wars and conflicts across the globe are reversing achievements in gender equality and women's empowerment.

"Wars and conflicts are eroding the achievements of decades of investments in gender equality and women's empowerment from the Middle East to Haiti, Sudan, Myanmar, Sahel region, Ukraine, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world," she said, adding that "women pay the biggest price of conflict."

Arguing that "conflict is inherently violent," the UN Women head said such conflicts for women and girls are "intolerable" and condemned sexual violence and any form of violence against women.

Commenting on the situation in Gaza, where Israeli attacks since the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and caused a humanitarian catastrophe, Bahous emphasized the need for humanitarian cease-fire.

"We cannot return to a path to peace without justice for all survivors of this conflict," she added.

*Writing by Merve Aydogan in Toronto