"To be a woman in Gaza"
All of the sector's residents are suffering from a shortage of basic essentials, including food, water, and secure shelter, as well as from the horrific violence that the Zionist occupation has unleashed against the Gaza Strip. Women have experienced additional hardship as a result of the humanitarian aid embargo, including suffering in relation to their unique requirements, privacy, access to pharmaceuticals, menstruation hygiene supplies, and a host of other issues.
Women were denied privacy as a result of the frequent relocation. Like every family in the area, women took sanctuary in schools at the start of the conflict when Israel destroyed their houses or threatened to expel some of them. Women's right to privacy was violated by the high overcrowding in displacement centers located in hospitals and schools. They were also deprived of using restrooms since thousands of displaced individuals had to wait in line for the few toilets that were available for extended periods of time. Israel then bombarded those centers, forcing most of the people in the sector to sleep in tents they had weaved.
Women characterized the menstrual time as hell when it came to menstruation. Due to the scarcity of sanitary pads and painkillers, women are forced to use cloth pieces during their menstrual cycle, which results in abrasions and skin infections that are difficult to cure because there aren't enough medications and ointments available. Furthermore, severe illnesses and fungal diseases might result from a lack of water and personal hygiene supplies.
According to a UN investigation, occupying soldiers sexually assaulted at least two female inmates from Gaza and harassed others. Strip searches are a common and dehumanizing practice used on female detainees. It involves occupying soldiers taking off their clothes, searching, and beating the women severely.
Alongside men, women in Gaza are often the targets of extrajudicial killings and arrests. Dania Hanatsheh, the freed prisoner, related the tale of "Maryam," a detainee who had been taken from Gaza. Maryam took what is known as the "safe passage" to escape from the north to the south of the strip. But there was a road stop where occupying troops detained a lot of people, including Maryam, both men and women. Her son was in her arms, still a baby. Maryam remembers with much sadness that the last thing she saw was her baby boy laying on the ground, with no idea of his whereabouts or if he had died.