Nearly 50,000 Women and Girls Killed or Severely Injured in Gaza in Three Years of War – One in 21 Gazan Women and Girls

Children in Gaza wait in the hope of receiving food. Credit: UN NewsOpinion by UN Women (united nations)Friday, October 09, 2026Inter Press Service UNITED NATIONS, October 9 (IPS) - Since October 2023, 50,000 women and girls in Gaza have been killed or seriously injured. UN Women estimates that nearly 50,000 women and girls in Gaza have been killed or severely injured since the onset of war in October 2023 [1], amounting to one in 21 Gazan women and girls losing their life or living with lifelong disabilities [2].More than 38,000 women and girls have been killed and 11,700 severely injured, the result of Israeli airstrikes and land military operations.While most of the casualties recorded took place during the first two years of the war, women and girls continue to be targeted despite a ceasefire agreement entering into effect in October 2025. Two hundred seventy-seven women and girls are among those who have been killed in Gaza over the past year.Nearly every woman and girl in Gaza is displaced.More than 150 evacuation and movement orders have been issued across Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces since October 2023, forcing nearly one million women and girls from their homes – nea...