‘Two mothers kill every hour in Gaza’

A UN agency said on Friday that two mothers are dying every hour in the conflict in Gaza that has lasted for more than 100 days.

In the report of UN Women, the United Nations agency working for gender equality and women’s empowerment, the average death rate of women from the beginning of the war in Gaza to 100 days has been published.

The Gaza crisis is having a devastating impact on the quality of life and humanitarian needs of women and children, according to the report, Gender Impact of the Gaza War.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 24,620 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. An estimated 70 percent of those killed in Gaza were women and children. According to statistics, the average ratio of female deaths since the beginning of the crisis is two mothers per hour.

More than 1.9 million people in Gaza, and 85 percent of Gaza’s total population, are believed to have been displaced. In which the United Nations agency UN Women has estimated that there are 100,000 women and children.

An estimated 2.2 million people of Gaza’s entire population are in crisis or acute food insecurity.

UN Women estimates that at least 3,000 women are widowed or left without a family in the conflict.

Similarly, at least 10,000 children may have lost their fathers.

The Executive Director of the United Nations Women’s Program, Sima Bahus, said that women and children are the first victims of conflict and it is their duty to seek peace by targeting them.

He said, “Two-thirds of all civilians killed in the Palestinian National Authority area in the past 15 years have been men. Similarly, less than 14 percent are women and girls. However, in the last 100 days, women and children account for 70 percent of the deaths. The trauma inflicted on the Palestinian people will haunt us all for generations to come.’

Urge to end the war

Expressing grief over the plight of women and girls in Gaza, Bahus called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access for all those in Gaza, including the provision of critical aid and services to all women and children.

He said he owed it to all Israeli and Palestinian women and children, saying it was a time for peace. He said they will not have to pay for it in the future.

According to the report, women’s leadership and women’s rights organizations continue to work despite growing animosity.

About 83 percent of women’s organizations surveyed in the Gaza Strip are at least partially operational. They are primarily focused on emergency response. However, according to a UN Women analysis of funding in the 2023 Flash Appeal, only 0.09 percent of funding was linked to national or local women’s rights organizations.

Through the last six months of response planning, UN Women in Palestine has provided life-saving assistance to more than 14,000 female-headed households, one-third of all female-headed households in Gaza.

They have been assisting in the distribution of clothing, sanitary products, and other necessities for children.

According to the report, UN Women is also partnering with women-led organizations to provide gender-responsive services for gender-based violence.

The program involves establishing women-led protection and response committees in shelters for displaced women and conducting regular consultations with women’s organizations in Palestine