UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19: More than 10,000 women have died in the Israeli war in Gaza, over 6,000 families have lost their mothers, and nearly one million women and girls \u201chave lost their homes, their loved ones, their life memories,\u201d the head of the U.N. women\u2019s agency in the occupied Palestinian territories has said<\/p>\n
\u201cWars are never gender neutral, but no doubt in Gaza one million women and girls are bearing the worst brunt of nine months of war,\u201d Maryse Guimond, the UN Women Special Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday,<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are losing their lives, they are sick, hungry, exhausted, holding families together despite their constant fear and loss,\u201d she said via video link from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
Ms. Guimond recently concluded a week-long mission to Gaza \u2013 a place she has visited more than 50 times in her six years in the job, including after previous escalations.<\/p>\n
She said she was not prepared for \u201cthe total destruction and inhumanity\u201d that she saw this time, her voice choking up with emotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I witnessed defied my worst fears for the women and girls I have been working with for so many years,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was unbearable to witness the daily escalation of violence and destruction of a war on women with no end in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UN Women Representative said she entered a world of devastation and total deprivation when the fence at the Kerem Shalom border crossing closed behind her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot underline enough the impact that this war has had on women and girls. I barely recognized women who I knew before the war. The last nine months is embedded on their faces, on their bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Guimond explained that Gaza is \u201ca war on women\u201d simply because of the numbers who have been killed and injured, and the overall level of devastation that women there are facing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have never seen this before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Conditions in the enclave are dire. More than half a million women \u201care severely hungry, eating the last and the least of their families, skipping meals and not eating healthy foods for months and months,\u201d she said, citing UN Women data.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, people are \u201cliving in overcrowded spaces, where infectious diseases are much more rampant\u201d. Because there is no water, women have been forced to shave their heads to avoid infections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could not recognize the Gaza I knew,\u201d Ms. Guimond said. \u201cHomes, hospitals, shops, schools, universities have been destroyed. Crowds of men, women, children trying to survive and in makeshift tents and overcrowded shelters surrounded by rubble and total destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n
As most hospitals are no longer functioning, access to healthcare and medical treatment is limited.<\/p>\n
Asked about the situation of pregnant women, Ms. Guimond replied that \u201csome of them are so fearful of delivering in conditions that they have no control over that we\u2019re hearing that some are actually asking if there\u2019s a way for them to deliver more rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since January, UN Women have published several reports on the gender aspects of the Gaza conflict, highlighting how it is \u201cfundamentally a protection crisis for women\u201d.<\/p>\n
Gaza has a population of some two million, and 90 per cent have been displaced, including nearly a million women and girls who have been uprooted multiple times in an increasingly shrinking space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no safe places to be a woman in Gaza,\u201d she said. \u201cThey move with no cash, with no possessions, and with no clue how and where they\u2019re going to live. Many women told me that they will not move again as it does not make a difference for their safety or survival.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet in the face of death, disease and displacement, women in Gaza \u201cshow remarkable strength and humanity in their struggle to survive, with hope and solidarity amidst the devastation,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The latest UN Women Gender Alert, published last month, examined how the war is impacting 25 women-led organizations in the occupied Palestinian territory, 18 of which are based in Gaza.<\/p>\n
They have over 1,500 personnel who provide shelter site management, hygiene kits, food parcels, psychosocial support, and other essential services, , despite a shortfall in funding.<\/p>\n
These organizations need financial support to sustain their efforts, she said. But they also need to see an increase of women\u2019s representation at the decision-making table in every step of the humanitarian assistance \u2013 from planning to final delivery \u2013 and they need them now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Guimond ended her briefing by echoing the UN\u2019s longstanding call for peace in Gaza, full access for humanitarian aid through the opening of all land crossings into the enclave, an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19: More than 10,000 women have died in the Israeli war in Gaza, over 6,000 families have lost their mothers, and nearly one million women and girls \u201chave lost their homes, their loved ones, their life memories,\u201d the head of the U.N. women\u2019s agency in the occupied Palestinian territories has said \u201cWars […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-419220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n