Gaza: Women and girls at forefront of the humanitarian crisis

Gaza women mourn the death of a child .AP Photo.

In Gaza, nearly 50,000 women and girls have been killed or severely injured since the start of the Hamas-Israel war in October 2023, according to the specialised UN agency UN Women. 

This includes more than 38,000 killed and 11,700 left with injuries so severe that they now live with lifelong disabilities.

Children in Gaza wait in the hope of receiving food. Credit- UN News

Today, almost all women and girls have been forced from their homes, and most are now living in tents or amid the ruins of their homes. 

Women now lead one in four households in the Strip, often while facing deeper poverty and repeated displacement with increasingly limited resources.

Trauma burden 

UN Women’s Sofia Calltorp told the story of Nour, one of the women behind this statistic. 

Her home was destroyed, and her husband, a nurse, was detained – she has not heard from him since. At times, she says she becomes so lost in thought that she is unable to respond even to her children.

At the same time, because of funding cuts, nearly two thirds of the organizations contacted by the agency in Gaza and the occupied West Bank said they have been forced to put women and girls on waiting lists or turn them away altogether. 

Every organization surveyed also reported an increase in gender-based violence, poverty and mental health distress since 2025. And all but one had seen an increase in child marriage.- UN News