Two Palestinian mothers are killed every hour and seven women every two hours in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, the UN Women executive director said on Thursday.
“Before October 7th, 67 percent of all civilians killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in the past 15 years were men, and less than 14 percent were women and girls. Since that date, that percentage has reversed,” Sima Sami Bahous said at a UN Security Council briefing about the situation in the Middle East.
“Not only is the number of civilians killed since October 7 twice that of the last 15 years combined, now 67 percent of the more than 14,000 people killed in Gaza are estimated to be women and children.”
Before the current escalation, there were 650,000 women and girls in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, said Bahous, but that estimate has gone to 1.1 million, including the nearly 800,000 women internally displaced.
“Women in Gaza have told us that they pray for peace, but that if peace does not come, they pray for a quick death, in their sleep, with their children in their arms.
“It should shame us all that any mother, anywhere, has such a prayer,” she added.
For the 48th consecutive day, the Israeli occupation’s massive carnage continues to claim more lives in the Gaza Strip as its army persists in bombing homes and buildings and targeting civilians.
The Palestinian death toll from Israeli ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip has climbed to 14,532 since Oct. 7, including more than 6,000 children and 4,000 women.
The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law as it exposes civilians’ lives to extreme danger, which requires an immediate international intervention.
