NEW YORK CITY: About 70 percent of the people killed during the war in Gaza were women and children, and on average two mothers have lost their lives every hour since the conflict began on Oct 7, ‘UN Women’ said Friday.
The UN women’s agency called for an immediate ceasefire adding no effort should be spared to ensure women and girls receive proper protection and have safe access to fast, unrestricted and “gender-responsive” humanitarian assistance.
Situation in #Gaza:
📣 Around 70% of those killed are estimated to be women and children.
📣 2 mothers are killed every hour.
📣 Close to 3,000 women have been widowed.
📣 1,000,000 women and girls are displaced.Read our new Gender Alert: https://t.co/cahuBrsKR5 pic.twitter.com/AtDGubTMwN
— UN Women (@UN_Women) January 19, 2024
“At least 24,620 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, about 16,000 of whom were women or children,” executive director of UN Women Sima Bahous said. This is three times the number of people killed in the territory in the previous 15 years combined, she added.
“It is now more than 100 days since the horrors of the Hamas attacks on Israel of Oct. 7 and the horrors that have followed, especially in Gaza,” and evidence continues to emerge that women and children are the “first victims of conflict,” she said.
She said the generational trauma inflicted on the Palestinian people over these 100 days and still counting, will haunt all of us for generations to come.
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Bahous said women and girls in Gaza are being deprived of safety, healthcare, medicine, and shelter, they face imminent starvation and famine and, most of all, they are deprived of hope and justice.
A “gender alert” issued by UN Women on the effects of the crisis in Gaza on women and girls said that the majority of those killed, wounded or displaced in the territory are female. It found that of the 1.9 million people who have been displaced, nearly 1 million are women and girls. They are forced to seek refuge in precarious shelters at a time when “nowhere and no one is safe in Gaza.”
It added: “The impossible decisions regarding whether to evacuate, how and when to do so, and where to go, are entrenched with gender-differentiated fears and experiences, as gendered risks, including attacks and harassment, emerge along displacement routes.”
‘UN Women’ estimates that at least 3,000 women have become widows and the heads of their households during the conflict and are in urgent need of protection and food assistance, and at least 10,000 children have lost their fathers. There are fears that many such families will need to resort to desperate coping mechanisms, including early marriage.
“Since the horrors of the Hamas attacks on Israel of 7th October and the horrors that have followed, especially in Gaza, we have seen evidenced once more that women and children are the first victims of conflict.”
Statement by @unwomenchief Sima Bahous: https://t.co/RWf2vhOI7E pic.twitter.com/5a9jgKFvyK
— UN Women (@UN_Women) January 19, 2024
The agency also reiterated its “deep concern at the accounts of unconscionable sexual violence and other gender-based violence during the Oct. 7 attacks.” It also repeated its calls for those responsible to be held accountable, for all of those affected to receive justice and support. It also sought immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
“This is a time for peace,” said Bahous. “We owe this to all Israeli and Palestinian women and girls. This is not their conflict. They must no longer pay its price.”
