Over 10,000 women, including an estimated 6,000 mothers, have tragically lost their lives in Israel’s six-month-long war on Gaza, leaving 19,000 children orphaned, according to a recent report by UN Women released on Tuesday.
Dubbed as “a war on women” by the UN agency, the conflict’s devastating toll was highlighted in the report titled “Scarcity and Fear: A Gender Analysis of the Impact of the War in Gaza on Vital Services Essential to Women’s and Girls’ Health, Safety, and Dignity”.
The dire situation in Gaza is exacerbating, with more than one million Palestinian women and girls facing severe hunger and nearly nonexistent access to essential resources like food, clean water, and sanitation facilities, putting their lives at grave risk.
“Access to clean water is especially critical for breastfeeding mothers and pregnant women, who have higher daily water and caloric intake requirements. It is also essential for the ability of women and girls to manage their menstrual hygiene with dignity and safety,” the report emphasized.
UN Women estimates that meeting the menstrual hygiene needs alone requires an immense supply of 10 million disposable pads or four million reusable sanitary pads monthly to serve 690,000 women and girls in Gaza.
Expressing concern over the disproportionately high toll on women, Susanne Mikhail, Regional Director of UN Women in the Arab States, emphasized, “The war in Gaza is no doubt a war on women, who are paying a heavy price for a war not of their making,” during a media briefing in Geneva.