NEW YORK CITY
About 70 per cent of the people killed during the war in Gaza were women and children, and on average two mothers have lost their lives every hour since the conflict began, UN Women said on Friday.
The agency called for an immediate ceasefire and no effort to be spared to ensure women and girls receive proper protection and have safe access to fast, unrestricted and “gender-responsive” humanitarian assistance.
“At least 24,620 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, about 16,000 of whom were women or children,” said Sima Bahous, the executive director of UN Women. This is three times the number of people killed in the territory in the previous 15 years combined, she added.
“It is now more than 100 days since the horrors of the Hamas attacks on Israel of Oct. 7 and the horrors that have followed, especially in Gaza,” and evidence continues to emerge that women and children are the “first victims of conflict,” she said.
“We are failing them. That failure, and the generational trauma inflicted on the Palestinian people over these 100 days and counting, will haunt all of us for generations to come. Without change, these last 100 days, (which) have seen unparalleled destruction rained on the people of Gaza, will be mere prelude to the next 100.
“However much we mourn the situation of the women and girls of Gaza today, we will mourn further tomorrow, without unrestricted humanitarian assistance and an end to the destruction and killing.”
Bahous said women and girls in Gaza are being deprived of safety, medicine, healthcare and shelter, they face imminent starvation and famine and, most of all, they are deprived of hope and justice.
