What it means to be a woman in Gaza today
"Mom, I want to eat," whispers Lamees Qaadan’s four-year-old daughter. There is nothing to eat in the tent. "I put her to sleep on an empty stomach," she says.
Women in Gaza carry unbearable loss and survival on their shoulders
Her husband and family were killed in October last year in Israeli bombardment. Her home lies in ruins. Now she shelters her children beneath a torn tent, keeping them close as the rain seeps through.
"No family. No house. No mother. Nothing remains. I am broken," says Lamees.
Famine was declared in Gaza City on 22 August 2025 by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis – a first for the Middle East region.
Mothers cannot feed their newborns; girls go to sleep hungry; families are burying children who are starving to death; and aid workers themselves are going without food.
In southern Gaza’s Barcelona Camp, Niveen Adel sits before a makeshift tent, mourning her daughters Aya, 23, and Malak, 15 – both killed when schools sheltering them were bombed. Her husband was buried beneath the rubble of another school.
"I can’t bear schools anymore. I suffocate when I enter one," says Niveen.
Widowed and displaced more than ten times, Niveen now struggles to feed her surviving children: "I have no money, not even a bag of flour to feed us. People say women are strong, that they can do everything. But I can’t. I can’t be mother, father, and head of the household all at once."
No food, no water, no way to manage menstrual hygiene – daily survival stripped of dignity
For women like Niveen and Lamees, each day begins with the same desperate question: Where will I find food and water?
Nearly a quarter of a million women and girls in Gaza are starving, many of them dying. Over half a million more are facing extreme hunger and acute malnutrition.
Women – the caregivers – line up for hours, risking their lives for a loaf of bread, a bucket of water, or a bag of flour.
Hygiene is another daily indignity. With sanitary pads largely unavailable or unaffordable, and no privacy, nearly 700,000 women and girls of reproductive age struggle to manage menstruation, often in overcrowded or unsafe facilities.
No safe place for women and girls
Last year, 7 in 10 women dying in conflict globally were killed in Gaza. Life expectancy has been reduced by 30 years.
Homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, and even UN shelters have all been struck. Niveen lost her daughters in a school she thought was safe. "My little one left without saying goodbye," she whispers.
Since October 2023, when the conflict started, more than 28,000 women and girls have been killed and 78,518 injured.
With over 1 million women and girls displaced[1], many multiple times, safety has become an illusion. Each move has meant searching for a small piece of land, often at unbearable rental costs, and many families end up building makeshift tents.
"We were in Beit Lahia," recalls Lamees. "The Israeli army displaced us to Rafah, in the south. The first night, we had nothing but the street. Then we built a small tent and lived inside it… Life became unbearable."
Women holding communities together, bearing invisible scars
Even in despair, women keep life going. They cook communal meals with scraps, comfort neighbours, care for the sick and the old, teach children in tents, and provide first aid. The burden of care and survival is immense, with almost no resources. More than 58,600 households in Gaza are now headed by women[2].
Despite facing endless bombings, hunger, and grief, women are the last line of defense for survival in Gaza. “I keep telling my children that God will not abandon us,” Niveen says, her voice breaking. “But life has become so scarce. I am just trying to hold on.”
UN Women has been supporting women-led organizations in the State of Palestine since 1997. Since October 2023, at least 89 per cent of women-led organizations in Gaza have suffered significant damages[3]. Offices have been destroyed, aid workers have been killed, and only one gender-based violence shelter remains operational in Gaza City – and they too may relocate soon.
This month, UN Women’s long-term partner and one of the leading women’s organization in Gaza, Association for Women and Child Protection (AISHA), was hit by an Israeli airstrike. The attack tragically claimed the lives of three people, including a staff member of AISHA, a child, and a pregnant woman who was seeking services, and resulted in extensive damage to AISHA’s premises.
“My little girl looks at me and says: ‘Mom, let’s go see Dad.’ And I cry endlessly,” Lamees says.
UN Women joins the United Nations and humanitarian partners in calling for unrestricted access to humanitarian assistance at scale for women and girls, the release of all hostages, and an immediate ceasefire leading to sustainable peace.
References
[1] UN Women estimate based on Gaza Site Management Cluster data
[2] UN Women estimate based on Palestinian Bureau of Statistics data
[3] UN Women estimate
