H.E. Dr. Awad highlights the status of the Palestinian Woman on the Eve of the International Women’s Day on 08/03/2024

H.E. Dr. Ola Awad, President of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), on Thursday 07/03/2024, highlighted the reality of the Palestinian women on the eve of International Women's Day on 08/03/2024 under the theme “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”, as follows:

Women are half of the Palestinian Society

Females constitute 49% of the total population in Palestine, the number of females reached 2.76 million in mid-2024 (1.63 million in the West Bank, and 1.13 million in Gaza Strip).

Three martyrs every hour [i]

Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on 07/10/2023 and until the date of the issuance of this statement, there are more 9,000 female martyrs out of a total of 30,717 martyrs. It is noteworthy that 75% of the total number of wounded, amounting to 72,156 wounded, are females. Women and children constituted 70% of the missing persons in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli aggression, totaling 7,000 individuals. Reports from Gaza Strip indicate that approximately 2 million people were displaced, half of whom are female.

It is also worth noting that 423 martyrs have fallen in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, until the issuance of this press release, of whom 4 female martyrs. Furthermore, 592 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from in Area C and East Jerusalem because of the demolition of their houses on the argument that those houses lack the permits. In addition to the displacement of 830 Palestinians after the destruction of 131 houses during the operations of Israeli forces in the West Bank. Reports indicate that refugee camps of Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm witnessed about 95% of the displacement cases[ii].

The Israeli violations against the Palestinian women continues^[iii]

During the year 2023, 300 women were arrested in the West Bank during 2023, among them, 200 women were arrested during the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip. In the Jerusalem Governorate, 165 women were arrested, including 84 women during the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip. As for Gaza Strip, accurate data is not available due to in the light of enforced disappearance that the Israeli occupation continues to carry out against female detainees from Gaza[1].

According to the data from The Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs the Israeli occupation forces are currently detaining 56 female detainees in the Israeli prisons; 44 female detainees from the West Bank, 3 female detainees from Gaza Strip and 9 female detainees from the Green Line (occupied territories in 1948). According to the detention status, there are 5 female detainees sentenced, 40 females detained without being sentenced and 11 female administrative detainees. Moreover, there are 2 minor females.

Famine threatens the life of women in Gaza Strip

Women and girls often find themselves marginalized in crises, where they reduce their food consumption when conditions deteriorate, and at particular risk of undernutrition or malnutrition, which will make pregnant and nursing women more vulnerable to health risks, such as birth abnormalities or early mortality of infants.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report for the period from January to February 2024 showed an increased risk of famine in the Gaza Strip.  The report indicated that all the entire population in Gaza Strip (about 2.2 million people) are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, among these, about 50 percent of the population (1.17 million people) are in emergency situation, and at least one in four households (more than half a million people) is facing catastrophic conditions, and these households are characterized by extreme lack of food, famine, and depletion of coping capacities.

Women health is at risk in Gaza Strip

Health data in Gaza Strip show significant challenges facing pregnant women, indicating that there are about 60 thousand pregnant women[iv] in Gaza Strip, and there are 180 daily births. Likely, about 15% of these women are to suffer from complications in pregnancy and childbirth that are difficult to treat due to lack of medical care. This means that there is a high probability of an increase in births under unsafe health conditions, which constitutes a serious violation of women's rights and endangers their lives and those of their newborns. Women in Gaza Strip face tragic conditions during pregnancy and childbirth, where they suffer from a difficulty to access healthcare facilities and following upon pregnancies due to lack of medical services and essential medicines, ambulances are hard to be used and hospitals suffer from a lack of supplies and fuel. In addition, 85 hospitals and healthcare centers have stopped providing health services; all these conditions increase abortions and mortality during childbirth. Care Organization[v] reported that the number of premature births among women increased by almost one third due to factors such as stress and trauma, where some of them had abortions as a result of fear, which led to an increase in abortion cases by 300%.

Pregnant women suffer from malnutrition and dehydration as they face severe food poverty, where many of their newborns are underweight and suffer from health problems. Also, mothers breastfeeding their children also suffer from a lack of milk production as a result of malnutrition and it is difficult to provide formula for their babies or the fact that their prices increases to an extent that cannot be purchased, which, in a sense, drives mothers to resort to insufficient or even unsafe alternatives to breastfeeding their children.

The Israeli aggression also affected the health status of women in the Gaza Strip due to the lack of hygiene supplies and resorting to primitive options, in addition to the fact that many women took birth control pills to maintain sexual and reproductive health, and many of them were exposed to gynecological infections due to the lack of medicines and the absence of many Of feminine hygiene products, this has had a negative impact on their psychological and physical health, and thus this accumulated health condition hinders their ability to live in dignity and luxury, and puts them under psychological and physical pressure that affects their overall quality of life.