No end in sight to the ‘war on women’ in Gaza

“They are losing their lives, they are sick, hungry, exhausted, holding families together despite their constant fear and loss,” said Maryse Guimond, speaking from Jerusalem to journalists at UN Headquarters in New York.

Ms. Guimond recently concluded a weeklong mission to Gaza – a place she has visited more than 50 times in her six years in the job, including after previous escalations. 

She was not prepared for “the total destruction and inhumanity” that she saw this time.

War ‘embedded’ on women’s faces and bodies

“What I witnessed defied my worst fears for the women and girls I have been working with for so many years,” she said. “It was unbearable to witness the daily escalation of violence and destruction of a war on women with no end in sight.”

The UN Women Representative said she entered a world of devastation and total deprivation when the fence at the Kerem Shalom border crossing closed behind her.

“I cannot underline enough the impact that this war has had on women and girls. I barely recognized women who I knew before the war. The last nine months is embedded on their faces, on their bodies.” 

Death, displacement, deprivation

Ms. Guimond explained that Gaza is “a war on women” simply because of the numbers who have been killed and injured, and the overall level of devastation that women there are facing. 

“We have never seen this before,” she said.

More than 10,000 women have been killed since the start of hostilities on 7 October 2023, following the brutal Hamas-led attacks against Israel in which some 1,200 nationals and foreigners were killed and another 250 taken hostage.

Conditions in the enclave are dire. More than half a million women “are severely hungry, eating the last and the least of their families, skipping meals and not eating healthy foods for months and months,” she said, citing UN Women data.

Furthermore, people are “living in overcrowded spaces, where infectious diseases are much more rampant”.  Because there is no water, women have been forced to shave their heads to avoid infections.

Pregnant women ‘fearful’

“I could not recognize the Gaza I knew,” Ms. Guimond said.  “Homes, hospitals, shops, schools, universities have been destroyed. Crowds of men, women, children trying to survive and in makeshift tents and overcrowded shelters surrounded by rubble and total destruction.”

As most hospitals are no longer functioning, access to healthcare and medical treatment is limited. 

Asked about the situation of pregnant women, Ms. Guimond replied that “some of them are so fearful of delivering in conditions that they have no control over that we’re hearing that some are actually asking if there’s a way for them to deliver more rapidly.”

‘No safe places’

Since January, UN Women have published several reports on the gender aspects of the Gaza conflict, highlighting how it is “fundamentally a protection crisis for women”.

Gaza has a population of some two million, and 90 per cent have been displaced, including nearly a million women and girls who have been uprooted multiple times in an increasingly shrinking space.

“There are no safe places to be a woman in Gaza,” she said. “They move with no cash, with no possessions, and with no clue how and where they’re going to live. Many women told me that they will not move again as it does not make a difference for their safety or survival.”

Yet in the face of death, disease and displacement, women in Gaza “show remarkable strength and humanity in their struggle to survive, with hope and solidarity amidst the devastation,” she added.

The latest UN Women Gender Alert, published last month, examined how the war is impacting 25 women-led organizations in the occupied Palestinian territory, 18 of which are based in Gaza.

They have over 1,500 personnel who provide shelter site management, hygiene kits, food parcels, psychosocial support, and other essential services, , despite a shortfall in funding.

These organizations need financial support to sustain their efforts, she said. But they also need to see an increase of women’s representation at the decision-making table in every step of the humanitarian assistance – from planning to final delivery – and they need them now.”

Ms. Guimond ended her briefing by echoing the UN’s longstanding call for peace in Gaza, full access for humanitarian aid through the opening of all land crossings into the enclave, an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages.