{"id":501,"date":"2026-10-10T16:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T16:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/10\/50000-women-and-girls-dead-or-maimed-in-gaza-and-the-world-moved-on\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T16:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T16:50:56","slug":"50000-women-and-girls-dead-or-maimed-in-gaza-and-the-world-moved-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/10\/50000-women-and-girls-dead-or-maimed-in-gaza-and-the-world-moved-on\/","title":{"rendered":"50,000 Women and Girls Dead or Maimed in Gaza\u2014And the World Moved On"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Generated<\/figure>\n

One year after a ceasefire was supposed to end the bloodshed in Gaza, the scale of suffering among women and girls has reached a staggering milestone that should shock the conscience of the world\u2014but hasn’t.<\/p>\n

Nearly 50,000 women and girls have been killed or left with severe, life-altering injuries since October 2023, according to UN Women. That figure represents one in every 21 women and girls in the besieged enclave. More than 38,000 are dead. Another 11,700 now live with permanent disabilities.<\/p>\n

Sofia Calltorp, UN Women’s chief of humanitarian action, told reporters in Geneva that most casualties occurred during the first two years of the war. But the killing has not stopped. Even after the ceasefire took effect in October 2025, another 277 women and girls have been killed.<\/p>\n

Nearly one million women and girls have been driven from their homes. Almost all remain displaced, living in tents or amid the rubble of what used to be their neighbourhoods. The number of female-headed households has doubled, with women now leading one in four families in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Funding cuts have crippled women’s organisations. Thirteen out of 14 groups surveyed by UN Women said they can no longer meet the growing needs of survivors. All reported sharp increases in gender-based violence, poverty, mental health crises, and child marriage since 2025.<\/p>\n

“What we have found is a horrific amount of collective suffering, an immense amount of pain, and a level of resilience and strength that no woman should have to bear,” Calltorp said.<\/p>\n

But the crisis extends far beyond violence. Hunger still grips Gaza.<\/p>\n

Every day, 35-year-old mother Niyaha al-Masri spends six hours or more queuing at a community kitchen in Khan Yunis, hoping to bring home food for her eight children. Without it, she says, they would have nothing.<\/p>\n

Her husband, wounded in both legs by an airstrike, cannot work. The single meal she manages to collect\u2014rice, lentils, a little chicken\u2014is all her family of 10 will eat that day. There is no breakfast. There will be no dinner.<\/p>\n

According to the UN’s World Food Programme, 1.4 million out of Gaza’s 2.1 million people remain acutely food insecure. Some 200,000 are just one step below famine. While the ceasefire allowed some supplies in, the lack of nutritional variety continues to threaten lives, especially children and pregnant women.<\/p>\n

“You cannot survive on dry goods and wheat flour and bread alone,” said Shaun Hughes of the World Food Programme. “Particularly children, particularly pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, they need the micronutrients that come with high protein foods, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits.”<\/p>\n

Masri’s children dream of eating fruit, but the family cannot afford it. One of her sons suffered from malnutrition during the 2025 famine. His condition is improving slowly, but the damage may be permanent. Repeated malnutrition in children causes cognitive and physical impairments that last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

A recent study by Medecins du Monde found that 93 percent of pregnant or breastfeeding women in Gaza showed symptoms of anaemia, closely linked to malnutrition. Only 17 percent had a sufficiently varied diet to meet their nutritional needs.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a UN commission led by South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay\u2014who was awarded the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize\u2014concluded in September 2025 that Israeli authorities had committed four of the five acts defined as genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The commission found evidence of intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza and placed responsibility at the highest levels of Israeli leadership.<\/p>\n

Pillay warned that governments continuing to arm or support Israel were complicit. “When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity,” she said.<\/p>\n

Israel rejected the findings and accused the commission of bias.<\/p>\n

UN Women has called for full implementation of the ceasefire, respect for international law, and accountability for violations. But one year on, the ceasefire has not brought peace. It has only slowed the dying.<\/p>\n

For Masri and millions like her, survival is a daily battle. Her children spend their days collecting scraps of nylon, cardboard, and foam to patch their tent. “I swear to God, this isn’t normal,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One year after a ceasefire was supposed to end the bloodshed in Gaza, the scale of suffering among women and girls has reached a staggering milestone that should shock the conscience of the world\u2014but hasn’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3,5,6,4],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-ai-consensus","tag-ary-news","tag-express-tribune","tag-journalist-ai"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/50-000-women-and-girls-dead-or-maimed-in-gaza-and-the-world-moved-on.png","read_time":"4 min read","source_name":"Goodforfree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodforfree.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}