“We have seen evidenced once more that women and children are the first victims of conflict,” said U.N. Women executive director Sima Bahous, “and that our duty to seek peace is a duty to them.”to do more to help civilians and to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
In the period from 2008 to Oct. 7, 2023, the U.N. documented the killings of 6,542 Palestinian civilians in hostilities, with women and girls making up less than 14 percent of that figure. However, since Oct. 7, women and children have constituted about 70 percent of the region’s deaths. “Two weeks after the war started on my due date, I went to the hospital knowing that I was risking my life and that of my long-awaited baby,” said a woman quoted in the report. “My doctor decided to use a private clinic that was not fully equipped as it was the only solution available at that time. I risked my life and I hope that I didn’t bring my baby to this world for him to just be killed for no reason.
. Under that rubric, U.N. Women has co-chaired the national-level Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group and the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Network, and has worked to coordinate the delivery of aid, ensuring that women’s needs are taken into account in the humanitarian response.