Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip have disproportionately borne the brunt of Israel’s genocidal war on the tiny territory.

According to UN estimates, nearly a million women and girls out of Gaza’s 2.3 million population have been displaced. 

Women in Gaza are being forced to give birth under inhumane, degrading and dangerous conditions. Thousands of pregnant women face the prospect of giving birth in tents or in the street. Currently, there are not enough anesthetics, medicines and sanitary supplies which make surgical intervention almost impossible. 

In addition to such shortages, Israel’s airstrikes and raids into hospitals in Gaza have added insult to injury. 

Reham is a 24-year-old Palestinian woman in Gaza who has gone through a painful ordeal. 

Reham and her family have been displaced in Gaza after their apartment was destroyed in Israeli strikes.  

In addition to losing her home, the young woman also lost her five-month pregnancy. This happened when Reham went into shock after hearing her parents’ house had been hit by a direct airstrike, killing two of her brothers.  

“My neighbor was killed by an airstrike while giving birth, alongside her husband. My two brothers were killed while trying to escape my parents’ house. My brother is now an amputee. What’s next? Who will be killed next? Will it be me?”, Reham said. 

Dire conditions

The representative of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) for the state of Palestine has described the situation for mothers and babies in Gaza as a nightmare.

"It's a nightmare which is much more than a humanitarian crisis… It is a crisis of humanity beyond catastrophic," Dominic Allen said.

Women in Gaza say constant Israeli strikes have left their children traumatized and they have to deal with many added burdens since the war started.

"My child asks for a lot of things he used to have easily before the war, but now I cannot afford or find everything he wants, even if it's just a piece of chocolate," said a Palestinian mother who has been displaced by Israel’s war on Gaza. 

Others have pointed to other sorts of hardships they are suffering.

"The life of a Palestinian woman revolves around three things. The wife of a martyr, the mother of a martyr, or the wife of a missing man. These are the conditions of women in the Gaza Strip at the moment," Nadia Habib made the comments about life under Israeli attacks.

Earlier this month, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA, said more than 60 women are killed in the Gaza Strip each day.

The Health Ministry in Gaza has also said nearly 9,000 Palestinian women have been killed since Israel launched war on the territory in early October. 

The ministry says tens of thousands of pregnant women in Gaza suffer from malnutrition, dehydration and a lack of proper healthcare.”

Atrocious crimes

UN experts have also released harrowing reports over allegations of human rights violations against Palestinian women.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said last month it had received information that Palestinian women and girls have “reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children”.

UN experts said they were “shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing. Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces.” 

The UN experts expressed alarm over the arbitrary detention of hundreds of Palestinian women and girls including human rights defenders.

“We are particularly distressed by reports that Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence,” the experts said.

They added that in at least one occasion, Palestinian women detained in Gaza were allegedly kept in a cage in the rain and cold, without food.

‘War on women’

UN Women, a United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, has called the war in Gaza "also a war on women."

It said Gazan women continue to suffer the Israeli war’s devastating impacts.

"While this war spares no one, UN Women data shows that it kills and injures women in unprecedented ways," the UN organization said.  

"More than 4 out of 5 women (84%) report that their family eats half or less of the food they used to before the war began, with mothers and adult women being those tasked with sourcing food, yet eating last, less, and least than everyone else," it added. 

Despite the unimaginable suffering experienced by women in Gaza, the international community has failed to place any comprehensive plans on the agenda to protect them in the face of Israel’s brutal onslaught. 

Nonetheless, women in Gaza have inspired the world in many ways with their courage, faith and attachment to their land and families.

Palestinian women are brave and resilient. They deserve peace, justice and dignity.