File: The mother of Muhammad Ayman Ghazawi and Basel Ayman Ghazawi, two of three Palestinian men killed by undercover Israeli agents mourns during their funeral in the occupied West Bank city on January 30, 2024. (Photo by Zain Jaafar / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Why there is no joy in celebrating International Women's Day in Palestine?
International Women's Day, March 8, is traditionally a huge public holiday in the Palestinian territories, with Gaza families donning their finest attire and flocking to hotels and restaurants to honor their mothers, daughters, and sisters.
AFP file photo
With Israel’s widespread bombing in densely populated Gaza, the attacks had left most of its population displaced— nearly all homeless and all struggling for survival. This includes 1 million women and girls, according to UN women. And so, it's painful even to think of such things like celebrating women's day.
As of writing this, in the five months since the war began, 30,878 people in the enclave have been killed and 72,402 wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Of the death toll, about 9,000 are women, according to the ministry.
AFP file photo
In a statement to mark International Women's Day, the health ministry said 60,000 pregnant women in the enclave were suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. With starvation spreading across the Strip, mothers and small children are the most vulnerable.
"Five thousand pregnant women give birth each month in Gaza amid harsh, insecure, and unhealthy conditions because of the bombardment and displacement," said the statement.
File: Displaced Palestinian children / AFP
Thousands of pregnant women face the prospect of giving birth in tents or on the streets, despite international warnings of famine, disease and the collapse of Gaza’s health system. Doctors and humanitarian organizations report an upsurge in miscarriages and stillbirths.
Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, stated that displaced women in camps he visited in southern Gaza reported sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Separately, UN human rights experts expressed alarm about reports of "inhumane and degrading treatment" of Palestinian women and girls held by Israeli soldiers in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
While progress toward gender equality is hailed around the world, Palestinian women face a disproportionate burden in Gaza.
