In a startling revelation, the UN Women executive director, Sima Sami Bahous, disclosed on Wednesday that Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip have resulted in the tragic loss of two mothers every hour and seven women every two hours. Speaking at a UN Security Council briefing on the Middle East, Bahous highlighted a disturbing shift in casualty demographics.
“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,” Bahous stated. “Not only is the number of civilians killed since October 7 twice that of the last 15 years combined, but now 67 percent of the more than 14,000 people killed in Gaza are estimated to be women and children.”
Prior to the recent escalation, Gaza already faced a humanitarian crisis, with 650,000 women and girls in desperate need of assistance. However, this number has surged to 1.1 million, including nearly 800,000 internally displaced women. Bahous shared harrowing accounts from women in Gaza, revealing their desperate prayers for peace and, if that eludes them, a swift death while sleeping with their children in their arms.
“It should shame us all that any mother, anywhere, has such a prayer,” she added, emphasizing the urgency and severity of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
