From becoming the head of a household and facing challenges linked to housing and land rights, to restricted access to essential healthcare and reproductive services, how are women disproportionately affected by war?
More than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and December 2025, UN Women estimated in its latest report.
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The figure is based on data reported during this period by the Gaza Health Ministry, which stated 71,200 people were killed since the start of Israel's military offensive in Gaza, launched in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
According to the UN, the ministry's data was then "adjusted for underreporting using a correction factor based on evidence that not all deaths are captured."
"Women, children, and older persons together represent more than half of all fatalities," the report said, noting that the true toll is likely much higher as a result of the difficulty of recovering bodies still trapped under rubble and the breakdown of health and reporting systems.
Figures show that "fatality peaks among women and children also coincided with periods of large-scale destruction of civilian infrastructure," with "destruction of homes, schools and designated shelters heavily concentrated during the early phase of the war."
The report additionally estimates that close to 11,000 women and girls in Gaza have a lifelong disability.
Despite a ceasefire agreement, the reality on the ground in Gaza remains dire, and the agency warns women and girls continue to face serious risks.
More than 750 Palestinians have been killed and over 2,000 injured in the Strip since the truce came into effect in October 2025, with both Israel and Hamas blaming each other for ceasefire violations.
The hidden impact of war on women and girls
Beyond fatalities, the report also underscores the broader impact of war on women and girls, with the agency warning that they are disproportionately affected.
"What we're seeing is quite a large escalation of conflicts that we haven't experienced since the 1990s ... and women and girls are specifically and disproportionately affected," Sofia Calltorp, UN Women Chief of Humanitarian Action, told Euronews.
"Beyond the sheer violence, we have the collapse of the very system that women and girls depend on for their survival," Calltorp added.
Although the ceasefire agreement was expected to allow greater humanitarian aid into Gaza, only limited supplies have reached the enclave, and many residents continue to face shortages of food and medicine, and for women, crucial menstrual hygiene products such as sanitary pads.
With much of the Strip reduced to rubble, including healthcare facilities such as hospitals, maternity wards and fertility clinics, UN Women says the war in Gaza has resulted in "systemic reproductive violence" by severely restricting women and girls' access to sexual and reproductive health services.
Rise in women-led households
The war in Gaza has also drastically reshaped household structures and care roles, with many women suddenly becoming heads of their families. According to UN Women, over 58,600 households in Gaza are now led by women, roughly 14% of all households, compared to 9% in 2023.
Calltorp highlighted the burdens women carry, including managing household responsibilities such as securing an income, finding food, and caring for children and elderly relatives.
Recalling a visit to a displacement centre in northern Gaza, where she met a group of women, Calltorp said they were "struggling from the very morning to the very end of the day."
"That kind of daily struggle for a woman who has not [previously] been head of a household and is now doing so in the midst of the ruins is quite stark," the agency's humanitarian action head added.
Over 1.9 million Palestinians — almost Gaza's entire population — have been displaced, often multiple times, and almost 60% of the population has lost their homes, according to a Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA) conducted jointly by the World Bank, United Nations and the European Union.
The report by UN Women shows that women-headed households are not only more likely to be displaced than male-headed households, but they also face significant barriers when it comes to housing and land rights.
"Women do not have the same legal rights as men, for example when it comes to property rights," Calltorp told Euronews. "I met with one woman who was a widow, and for her to get the legal entitlement of her land and her house was extremely complicated because it was all linked to her deceased husband."
The RDNA assessment also found that more than 50% of hospitals in the territory are non-functional and nearly all schools have been destroyed or damaged.
"Loss of education affects boys and girls differently, exacerbating gender inequalities," UN Women states in its report, adding that "when girls are deprived of schooling, the consequences are particularly severe." It highlights this can reinforce traditional gender roles, increase in economic dependence, and restrict agency and future employment.
UN Women is now calling for the ceasefire in Gaza to be implemented in full compliance with international law and human rights, together with the immediate and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid, and gender-responsive recovery and reconstruction efforts.
Women's role in response and recovery
"We need to ensure that women and girls are placed at the centre of response and recovery efforts," Calltorp concludes, highlighting the important role of women's civil society and women-led organisations during periods of conflict.
"When I was in Gaza, I met with a woman and her whole house had been demolished," Calltorp recalled. "Just in front of her former house, she was cooking for her neighbours to make a small income, but also contributing to the survival of her community".
The communal kitchen had been the woman and her husband's own initiative, using debris from their home, such as doors and windows, to fuel the oven fire.
"To support women-led organisations in Gaza is really one of the most effective and important things we can do to meet the immediate needs, but also for long-term recovery and peace-building".