The current conflict in Gaza has significantly impacted women in the region, beginning with its inception from the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. A United Nations group revealed that the Hamas terrorists raped women at the Nova music festival and found evidence that some were bound naked before being shot.1
Women in Gaza have also experienced deadly horrors, which have been compounded by the region’s growing health crisis. Border blockades have severely limited access to essential resources like sanitation, medical supplies, food, and hot water.2 While all women and girls are affected in terms of their physical and mental health, managing menstrual and maternal health presents a particularly acute challenge amid these dire conditions. Now, among pregnant women in Gaza, 1 in 5 are malnourished.3
Over one million Gazans face an increasingly bleak situation as they seek refuge in the city of Rafah, a designated safe zone that is under threat of an imminent Israeli offensive