UN Women says women and girls in Gaza ‘have borne the brunt’ of Israeli genocidal war

Guimond added: “The end of the tenuous ceasefire in Gaza is having disastrous consequences for women and girls. From 18 to 25 March—in just those 8 days, 830 people have been killed—174 women, 322 children, with 1,787 more injured.”
She elaborated that “every single day from the 18 to 25 March, an average of 21 women and over 40 children are killed,” while stressing that “This is not collateral damage; this is a war where women and children bear the highest burden. They comprise nearly 60 percent of the recent casualties, a harrowing testament to the indiscriminate nature of this violence.”
Guimond relayed the calls of UN Women’s partners and the women and girls in the Strip to “end this war” and to “let them live,” noting that “It is a situation of pure survival and survival of their families.”
Conveying the testimonies of women and girls, Guimond reported them saying: “Because as they say, there is simply nowhere to go. They are telling us they will not move again, since no safe places anyway.”
She reported a woman from Deir Al Balah recently saying to UN Women, “My mother says, ‘Death is the same, whether in Gaza City or Deir al-Balah...We just want to return to Gaza.”
She reported another woman from Al-Mirak saying: “We’re glued to the news. Life has stopped. We didn’t sleep all night, paralyzed. We can’t leave. My area is cut off. I’m terrified of being hit – every possible nightmare races through my mind.”
The UN Women official said that since March 2nd, humanitarian aid has been halted by the Israelis. And people’s lives are again at risk since the Israeli bombardments resumed on March 18.
Commenting on the ceasefire, she said: “The ceasefire, while brief, had provided some breathing. During that time, I had the opportunity to visit some of our partner organizations who were repairing their offices in Gaza City with what material was available. I saw neighbours coming together to clean some of the rubble on their streets, heard children playing. Met with women who expressed their fragile hope for peace and for rebuilding their lives. I saw thousands of people on the roads back to Gaza City.”
However, she said: “And now that hope is gone.”
“For now, 539 days, the relentless war has ravaged Gaza, obliterating lives, homes, and futures. This is not merely a conflict; it is a war on women—on their dignity, their bodies, their very survival. Women have been stripped of their fundamental rights, forced to exist in a reality where loss is their only constant. Cumulatively, over 50,000 people have been killed and more than 110,000 injured,” she elaborated.
She stressed the need to “protect the rights and dignity of the people of Gaza, especially women and girls, who have borne the brunt of this war.”
“Women are desperate for this nightmare to cease. But the horror persists, the atrocities escalate, and the world seems to be standing by, normalizing what should never be normalized,” she elaborated.
She also stressed the need to bring an end to the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the Strip, uphold international humanitarian law, respect “the systems we established to protect humanity” and treat all humans equally.
She reiterated the appeal “for the ceasefire to be respected, for unimpeded humanitarian access to be restored”.