No pads, no privacy, no dignity: The reality of menstruation in Gaza amid Israel’s genocide
Midnight Adams reports in The New Arab on 1 September 2026:
When Israeli evacuation orders arrived in Gaza, 16-year-old Leena had minutes to gather her belongings and flee her home to safety. Packing period products was not even an afterthought.
**** ****
But the ability to safely manage menstruation relies on access to clean water, a resource which quickly became scarce as Israeli occupation forces began to attack water resources and desalination plants.
On October 9 2023, Israel announced a “complete siege” on Gaza, including restrictions on electricity, which powered the desalination plants providing clean water to the 2.1 million Palestinians living in the enclave.
Within days, humanitarian agencies announced that Gaza’s water and sanitation systems were going to collapse. As the blockade continued, pads and tampons became impossible to find. Even when they could be bought, they were often at extortionate prices.
**** ****
[Liz Alcock, Head of Humanitarian Protection at MAP] describes a targeted blockade on period products at the border. “Bars of soap were taken, sanitary towels were taken. All sorts of things that would provide a very minimum level of basic decency for people were removed at a time when those items were largely unavailable,” Liz tells The New Arab.
But period poverty is much more than simply not having pads. It includes a lack of access to soap, clean water, private toilets, and pain relief.