IWD 2024
Glen Reynolds, a candidate for all. Photo credit: UNICEF/Mohammad Ajjou
Women and girls during the war in Gaza
This International Women’s Day, we should turn our minds to the many women and children who are the innocents in the ongoing horrors experienced in Gaza since the October 7th attacks by Hamas forces. The plight of women hostages held by Hamas is also to be remembered along with the calls for an immediate ceasefire.
Gaza is one of the most dangerous places for women to live. UN Women has had an office in Palestine since 1997, supporting women’s rights in Gaza and the West Bank. UN Women have called for an immediate ceasefire, hostage release, and sustained humanitarian access to meet the needs of all women and girls in Gaza.
With the UN estimating that nearly 700,000 women and girls in Gaza have menstrual cycles, they will have to manage their periods with little privacy or access to period products, toilets and clean water. Because of the lack of clean water, women and girls when on their periods are unable to wash themselves and stay clean. Many are being forced to use period products or substitutes for much longer than is safe.
Westminster must act now and call for an immediate ceasefire for the people of Gaza.