Clinging to what’s left of life: Palestinian women under genocide in Gaza
8 March 2026
Since October 2023, women in the Gaza Strip have been living under Israel’s genocide against Palestinians there. By 8 March 2026, Israel had injured more than 150,000 people in Gaza and killed more than 72,000 people, 12,500 of them women, including more than 9,000 mothers, leaving 21,193 widows. From the beginning of the so-called ceasefire on 10 October 2025 to 8 March 2026, Israel killed 642 people in Gaza, 78 of them women.
Over the course of the genocidal assault, Israel has forcibly displaced about 90% of the population in Gaza from their homes, with each resident forced to move six times on average. It has destroyed more than 90% of residential structures and 81% of the road network, including water and electricity grids, and has brought the healthcare system to near-total collapse. Reports by UN bodies, medical organizations and human rights organizations describe an ongoing pattern of destroying living environments – water, sanitation, health, shelter and protection. All this has unique and distinct repercussions for women.
Daily care for the family typically falls to women: preparing food, maintaining hygienic living spaces, and tending to children’s health and education. These responsibilities have become difficult, if not impossible, to carry out in the harsh living conditions of internally displaced persons (IDPs): living in tents without access to essential supplies such as water, food, cooking equipment and cleaning materials, and with a decimated education system.
Women in Gaza are also deprived of basic hygienic necessities such as access to water, sanitary pads, and clean, safe toilets and showers. With no way to maintain privacy in IDP camps, women and girls face danger whenever they venture into a public space, including on their way to shared toilets and showers. While scaling back attacks since the “ceasefire” declared in October 2025, Israel is still tightly restricting the entry of aid, including temporary housing units that could ease living conditions, equipment for fixing buildings and infrastructure, medication, cooking supplies and personal hygiene items. By doing so, Israel is preventing reconstruction and forcing Gaza’s residents to continue living in inhuman conditions that strip women of their privacy, health and dignity.
Battling the lack of privacy while bearing the added burden of cleaning, caring for children, lighting bonfires for cooking and heating, preparing food and more, creates enormous emotional strain.
Everything is hard for us, and I’m young and can’t cope with all these difficulties alone. I’ve become irritable. I have no patience even for my children. Sometimes I wish I could have a big tent, with a private corner for my husband and me. I need privacy. I can’t even cry in front of my children, because then I’d fall apart. I try as hard as I can to appear strong for them and for my husband. I so much want to be alone, even for one day, to be just with myself in a distant place where I can scream at the top of my lungs and cry over this terrible life that has been forced on me.
Displacement, camps and gender-based violence: life in a tent as a trap
Due to the mass forced displacement, most women in Gaza are currently living in overcrowded IDP camps or in destroyed homes, in an ever-shrinking area almost completely closed off. Exit through Rafah Crossing remains extremely restricted, leaving the population trapped in a confined territory under Israel’s continued attacks, starvation and destruction of infrastructure.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), at least 1.6 million people, who make up 77% of the population in Gaza, are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, including more than 100,000 children. Some 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition by April 2026.
Living in a tent is not a temporary solution but an ongoing situation that erases the boundaries between home and street, the personal and public, private and communal. A report published by PCHR describes how, in the makeshift IDP camps, there is hardly any distinction between “home” and “street.” Living spaces are not private and consist of thin tents, loose fabric partitions or classrooms shared by several families. The kitchens are makeshift, and the washing areas are open and communal. These conditions have an added impact on women, who have reported having no private place to change their clothes, wash themselves, breastfeed or sit without a head covering. The total absence of privacy also undermines spousal relationships: there is no space for intimate relations, for conversation with a spouse, for engaging in or refusing sexual relations; everything takes place, if at all, behind a thin curtain, with children, other family members and complete strangers just steps away.
Our tent is very small and barely holds the seven people living in it. We all suffer from a lack of privacy. We have been in this situation for so long, and there is no solution. My husband and I have difficulties because we have no private space of our own. Our children hear everything that happens between us, and that embarrasses me very much. I feel abandoned and broken.
Even everyday activities such as doing laundry, washing dishes and cooking are carried out in an open space in full view of everyone. Women related how they are forced to wash clothes, including undergarments and hygiene items, in a basin in front of the tent, hang them out to dry in plain sight, and spend most of the day cooking over an open fire near the tent, with nothing to shield them. All this forces them to wear a hijab and full-coverage clothing around the clock to preserve their privacy.
I spend the whole day in front of the fire, to heat water for my children’s showers, to cook, to bake in the clay oven. I wake up and get up immediately to look for wood and plastic and then light a fire. My children also spend the day looking for plastic and wood so that we can make a cup of tea.
Women’s private spaces were, in effect, the only places that offered them freedom from the restrictions of living in a traditional society. These spaces, where they were able to remove the hijab, dress and conduct themselves as they wished and spend time on their own, have been erased. Gaza’s women now describe being constantly exposed to the gaze of strangers, with no ability to regain basic control over their bodies and lives. They sleep fully clothed and with a hijab on, even when temperatures reach 40 degrees, when they are ill or after childbirth, for fear that someone would come in, that the tent would fly open, that someone would lift the sheet. There is no private room where they can get dressed, no shower with a door that can be closed.
The tent is made of fabric, and there is no privacy in it. My daughter and I can only change when everyone is out of it, and we spend all day in our prayer clothes, which are outer garments… I go to sleep in my prayer clothes, too, and they’ve started to tear. I feel ugly and unkempt.
In conditions of prolonged displacement, gender-based violence and exploitation also increase. UNFPA updates on gender-based violence indicate a rise in reports of intimate partner violence, economic control and sexual exploitation. An AP investigation presented testimonies of sexual exploitation in exchange for aid. Human rights organizations, including WAC and PCHR, stress that the collapse of protection mechanisms and judicial institutions leaves women with no recourse and no safe space.
Life in the camps is very hard. There is no privacy; women are constantly exposed to the gaze of strange men, which requires wearing overgarments and a hijab; long lines for water; the spread of skin diseases; dependence on soup kitchens; bullying and exploitation. Another pattern I see is women having to take on all the responsibility for the family. Some men lost their jobs and completely rely on their wives, and sometimes also make sexual demands without taking into account their wives’ wishes, mental state or the conditions in the shelters. Going back to living within the extended family, with no separation at all, is also a burden, as women are required to serve all family members. At the same time, there has been an increase in physical violence and harassment within the living space.
Living conditions that deny women the rights to health and to dignity
In a report dedicated to the issue, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) framed the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip as, among other things, reproductive violence, including damage to women’s health infrastructure, the destruction of IVF clinics and the obliteration of frozen embryo banks and fertility samples. In March 2025, the UN Human Rights Council found that attacks on women’s health facilities and fertility clinics may be considered measures intended to impair the ability to procreate. PCHR legally analyzed measures ostensibly designed to prevent births by destroying maternity wards and blocking access to essential services. And so, what is harmed is not just the capacity of institutions to function but the community’s very ability to continue to exist. This violence is another element of Israel’s genocide.
My daughters and I cut our hair, because there were no cleaning products or shampoo, and our hair was crawling with lice because of the filthy conditions we were living in. The few cleaning products and hygiene items that were available on the market were insanely expensive, and there was no way we could buy them. Sometimes my husband went to bombed houses to scavenge for food, hygiene items and cleaning products, and when he came back with some leftover piece of soap and we could shower properly, not wash ourselves a little with just water, we all felt as if we were born again.
The collapse of water and sanitation infrastructure, combined with Israel’s ban on the entry of temporary structures, construction equipment and water tanks into the Strip, causes daily harm to women and girls, as it makes basic hygiene nearly impossible to maintain in IDP camps. Displacement sites are overcrowded, and hundreds of people share an insufficient number of toilet cubicles, sometimes without proper doors or lighting. Human rights organizations report that some women avoid drinking so as not to have to use the toilets at night, and that there is not enough water for bathing and laundry. The complete lack of privacy prevents maintaining bodily hygiene, changing clothes or breastfeeding in conditions that respect women’s privacy. This is not merely a matter of discomfort. These living conditions, forced upon Gaza’s residents, lead to infections, skin diseases and ongoing psychological harm.
I would go down to the schoolyard at night and try to have my husband or one of my sons go with me. They also accompanied my daughters, for fear they would be exposed to exploitation or harassment or the like. I waited in line for the toilets in the dark, and when I was inside, I was constantly afraid someone would knock on the door and ask me to hurry up. The situation made me terribly uncomfortable. Sometimes, during the wait, it was already too late, you felt you couldn’t wait any longer, but there were still people ahead of you in line, and you had to wait and hold it in. The most humiliating thing for me was to walk with my daughters in the schoolyard, which was full of young men, carrying a bottle of water in my hand to use inside the bathrooms because they had no water. We even showered in that same bathroom, and sometimes in the classroom.
The severe shortage of feminine hygiene products illustrates how the female body itself becomes a site of suffering. Even before the war, tens of thousands of women and girls in the Gaza Strip suffered from a shortage of hygiene products. However, since October 2023, the suffering of hundreds of thousands of women and girls of reproductive age has grown significantly, as they have trouble obtaining sanitary pads and are forced to use old pieces of cloth or other makeshift solutions, sometimes without being able to change them at reasonable intervals or wash them.
When my daughters got their period, we suffered especially, because it was so hard to get sanitary pads. Sometimes they weren’t available in the market, and sometimes they were too expensive. I had to cut up old clothes, and we used them instead of pads. My daughters found it very hard to get used to that and refused at first, but there was no choice. We began to suffer from skin diseases and infections.
Women describe how they are forced to cope with leaks and with feelings of shame and humiliation in both public and private spaces, where there is no privacy. A report issued jointly by several UN bodies and humanitarian organizations in June 2025 described women’s distress as a “silent struggle” with severe physical and mental health implications. When menstruation, a natural bodily function, becomes an unmanageable burden, women’s dignity and bodily autonomy are directly violated.
From the first displacement to Khan Yunis, my daughters and I had to cope with a severe shortage of sanitary pads. Even when they were available on the market, they were rare and sold at outrageous prices; a small pack of pads cost 25 to 30 shekels. The only solution was to use pieces of cloth or small articles of clothing that we cut up and folded like pads, a very difficult and disgusting situation.
An assault on the future: motherhood and fertility
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, as of March 2026, 107,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are facing severe health risks due to the collapse of the healthcare system, including the services responsible for maternal and reproductive health. A 2025 UNFPA report estimated that 17,000 births were recorded in the Strip during the first six months of the genocide, a roughly 41% drop compared to the number of births in the corresponding period in 2022. At least 20 babies died within 24 hours of birth, and 33%, a total of 5,560, were born prematurely with low birth weight or required hospitalization in neonatal intensive care units. The report further stated that 220 stillbirths were reported in the Gaza Strip in the first half of 2025. Maternity wards and neonatal intensive care units operate far beyond capacity, and sometimes without electricity, fuel or essential equipment and medicines. Many women receive no regular prenatal care, tests, contraceptives or treatment for complications, and babies are born into a reality of shortages, overcrowding and malnutrition. This reality simultaneously violates the right to health, the right to decide if and when to become pregnant, and the ability to have children and raise them in safe conditions.
Before October 2023, the Gaza Strip had a limited and fragile but functioning healthcare system that included a network of primary clinics run by UNRWA, prenatal care, vaccinations and maternal and newborn health services. It also had several institutions that provided fertility services and IVF treatments.
Since the beginning of the Israeli assault, health services, including maternal and reproductive health, in the Gaza Strip have been described as undergoing a dramatic collapse. Back in early November 2023, a joint statement by UN agencies and the World Health Organization asserted that pregnant women and newborns “are bearing the brunt of the conflict,” noted obstetrics and gynecology wards (where still functioning) were overwhelmed, neonatal units were extremely overcrowded and major hospitals were bombed or shut down. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated in November 2025 that more than 500,000 women of reproductive age had no access to basic services (such as family planning and treatment of sexually transmitted infections), and that more than 50,000 pregnant women had no regular access to prenatal care, laboratory tests, ultrasound or basic medicines.
Hospitals were attacked or put out of service, maternity wards and neonatal intensive care units were overwhelmed, sometimes operating without a regular supply of electricity and fuel. A UNFPA situation report from December 2025 noted that only 15% of healthcare service points provided emergency obstetric care, neonatal units were operating at 150–170% occupancy (up to three newborns in one incubator), and that about half of the medicines related to maternal and child health were out of stock. Testimonies by physicians on the ground and by pregnant women describe births in corridors, tents and makeshift structures, sometimes without pain relief or sterile equipment.
I gave birth to my daughter, Kinaz, at al-’Awda Hospital, on a mattress on the floor, in harsh conditions. There were no beds, no privacy and there were hardly any medicines or medical equipment. Knowing that our baby girl, who has never done anything wrong, was starting her life under the sound of shelling was unbearable… We stayed displaced after the birth, too, with no safe place to stay and without essential baby supplies.
The starvation and ongoing blockade have exacerbated the crisis and led to a sharp increase in high-risk pregnancies, premature births and underweight babies. In the first half of 2025, about 10% of newborns (roughly 300 babies) were underweight. Between July and October, an average of about 460 low birthweight babies were reported each month (almost twice the pre-war monthly average), amid severe malnutrition among pregnant and breastfeeding women. UN agencies and health and human rights organizations also stress that the collapse of systematic data collection capacities means that most quantitative estimates are considered undercounts.
I gave birth to my son Samir in the eighth month of pregnancy… During the pregnancy, I didn’t have enough food and there were no vitamins. I suffered from malnutrition and was almost a skeleton… Samir was born weighing 800 grams, and they put him in an incubator. After the birth, I suffered from anemia. When I came back to the tent, we still had no food at all, and I ate only a few lettuce leaves. Fruit, milk and eggs were something I could only dream about.
When food, clean water and regular medical care are scarce, it is not only newborns who are harmed, but also women’s long-term health and their future fertility prospects. At the same time, lack of access to contraceptives and family planning counseling also deprives women of the right to choose not to become pregnant. Thus, all three rights identified under reproductive justice are violated at the same time – the right to have children, the right to raise them safely and the right not to have children.
The ceasefire that came into effect on 10 October 2025, carved up some space for expanding the humanitarian response. However, the system is still far from functioning adequately. In February 2026, only 260 out of 619 healthcare service points were reportedly operating (about 42%). Most of these points operated only partially, and all hospitals relied on generators, as the entry of critical components was delayed, disrupting the operation of intensive care units, operating rooms, dialysis facilities and laboratories.
Fighting for life under genocide
B’Tselem’s report Our Genocide, as well as reports by UN bodies and other human rights organizations, have found that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and the conditions it imposes there meet the various elements of genocide, as legally defined in international law. This includes causing severe harm and imposing conditions of life that lead to the physical destruction of a group and impair its reproductive capacity.
The harm inflicted on women in the Gaza Strip under Israel’s genocide forces them to live in a constant struggle for survival, without privacy, without “a room of their own,” under an unrelenting regime of killing and destruction, chronic water and sanitation deficits, a shortage of feminine hygiene products, rising gender-based violence, the collapse of maternal and reproductive health services and complete dependence on aid. The harm to women, to their lives, bodies, privacy, health and to their ability to have children, is neither incidental nor random, but an integral part of Israel’s actions to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.