Israel’s war against Gaza, now dragging into its 311th day, has wrought unspeakable devastation. More than 39,897 Palestinians have been killed and more than 92,152 others injured since October 2023.
However, as UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, warns these figures are likely a vast underestimation. The true human cost is much higher, and among the casualties, the suffering of women and children is both profound and devastating.
“It’s very clear that Israel has been targeting Palestinian women as part of its project of destroying the Palestinian people in whole and sparing no means to achieve this objective. So, as a result, there is no right that women have, and no area of life that has remained unaffected,” Alsalem says.
The war has stripped women of their basic rights and dignity, she explains, as the constant fear of being killed, losing close ones and bearing witness to the death and destruction is leaving unparalleled psychological trauma on the people of Gaza.
Pregnant women, mothers and young girls are particularly vulnerable, she explains, as they face a sharp increase in miscarriages, malnutrition, and severe dehydration due to the dire circumstances.
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“Mothers and would-be mothers have been targeted by the genocidal machine,” explains Alsalem. “They cannot even feed their newborn kids, not to mention the terror and desperation they feel because of the constant need to flee seeking safety in a place where there is no safety, the bombardments, the constant attack, the arbitrary executions, destruction of their families, family homes and with it the photos and items commemorating their family lives.”
We cannot begin to imagine the sense of defeat that mothers feel to see their kids being killed; having to gather their remains, not being able to even bury them in dignity. The rate of miscarriage for pregnant women has shot up by at least 300 per cent.
Israel, Alsalem explains, has also waged a war on reproduction. “For me the targeting of the fertility clinic of Gaza and the orders to abandon newborn babies to die and decompose slowly will always be emblematic of this reproductive violence, though far from the only example.”