Since the start of the war between Israel And Hamas, October 7, 2023 two mothers die every hour because of the war in A loop, according to the report UN Women the focus was on the impact of the crisis on Palestinian women.

The report, Gender Alert: Gender Impact on the Gaza Crisis, states that of the 24,620 civilians violently killed in the Gaza Strip, 16,000 were Women and childrenWhat means 70% of the total number of deaths.

Except hunger What is plaguing Gaza particularly affects women and girls, who tend to give away available food to other members of their family, and this poses a vital risk to pregnant women and nursing mothers.

Of the 5,500 women expected to give birth next month, 840 are at high risk of complications during labor due to poor medical care, and it is expected that the only hospital A functioning maternity hospital in northern Gaza will “inevitably” run out of fuel.

Additionally, there are only two women’s shelters in Gaza City, which are now closed.

Barriers to accessing food and escaping to safety

The organization says it is even more difficult for the female population to access supplies, services and resources, and this problem is exacerbated in female-headed households, who must feed, protect and support their families alone without work. to generate income.

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Many of them lost their husbands during the conflict, thus losing their only economic support his family; While the number of women earning an income in Gaza was low before the crisis, this figure has fallen even further in recent months.

Today, about 3,000 families in the Palestinian enclave are headed by women, according to UN Women.

On the other hand, of the 1.9 million displaced people, nearly 1 million are women and girls, although many remain at home caring for family members who, due to their physical condition or old age, are unable to travel.

“My husband can barely move and is not going to die in someone else’s house. Many older people like us are left to fend for themselves,” a 72-year-old Palestinian woman living in Gaza City told the organization.

With food shortages, school closures and a lack of educational and employment opportunities, many young Palestinian women fear their families will resort to desperate measures to survive and force them into early marriages.

“Women and children are the first victims of conflict, and our duty to achieve peace is our duty towards them. We tolerate them. This failure and the generational trauma inflicted on the Palestinian people in these 100 days will haunt us all for generations to come,” the organization’s executive director, Sima Bacchus, said in a statement today.

(EFE)