A new report from ActionAid highlights the harrowing impacts of the ongoing war in Gaza and the escalation of violence in the West Bank on Palestinian women and girls, as well as their remarkable resilience and leadership in the face of crisis. The report, titled “Agents of Change: The Role of Palestine’s women-led organizations in Crisis,” calls for increased funding for women-led organizations and the urgent inclusion of women in peacebuilding and reconstruction processes, highlighting the critical need for gender-sensitive approaches that address the unique challenges faced by women and girls. Drawing on firsthand testimonies from women living in Gaza and the West Bank, including activists and leaders, the report details the severe challenges women and girls face, from increased risk of gender-based violence to profound psychological trauma. It reveals the extraordinary resilience they demonstrate daily as they drive community recovery and advocate for peace. Key findings of the report include:
- Unseen Emotional and Psychological Toll: Palestinian women have been disproportionately affected by the war in Gaza, experiencing extreme levels of stress, anxiety, and trauma. Constant displacement and overcrowded living conditions have placed women in a perpetual state of instability and heightened tension.
- Rising Gender-Based Violence: The ongoing war in Gaza has exacerbated the threats women face, heightening the risk of sexual and gender-based violence, forced marriage, and exploitation. Women in displacement camps report a stark loss of privacy and safety, often facing harassment and abuse in overcrowded shelters. In the West Bank, women face violence from both Israeli soldiers and settlers.
- Loss of safe spaces and gender-specific support: At the same time, access to safe spaces and support for women experiencing sexual and gender-based violence has hugely reduced due to repeated forced displacements, lack of funding, and communications challenges. The complete collapse of Gaza’s legal system has created a legal vacuum, leaving women unable to obtain justice.
- Severe Obstetric Care Crisis: The report exposes the dire state of maternal healthcare in Gaza, as pregnant women face high-risk births with little to no medical support, leading to tragic outcomes. Access to adequate sexual and reproductive healthcare is virtually impossible in Gaza.
- Additional workload and responsibilities: Women living in Gaza’s displacement camps have taken on the physically demanding and time-consuming work of running a household in a war zone, from carrying heavy buckets of water to their tents to cooking over open fires, while also taking on additional caring responsibilities. Amid severe food shortages, women are eating last and the least to ensure others in the family are fed.
- Women’s Leadership Amid Crisis: Despite these immense challenges, Palestinian women have stepped into crucial leadership roles within their communities. From managing displacement camps to advocating for resources, women are actively leading efforts to rebuild Gaza.
Despite their unique expertise and years of experience supporting their communities, women-led organizations in Palestine are often sidelined, with Faraha, who runs an organization in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, commenting:
“Women-led organizations are somehow neglected. There is no real vision on how to engage them.”
Going forward, the report calls for Palestinian women to be actively involved in all peace negotiations and political dialogues related to the region’s future and to be recognized as essential agents of change in Gaza’s recovery.
Riham Jafari, Advocacy and Communications Coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, says:
“Women and girls in Palestine face unique and severe challenges as the devastating war in Gaza continues and violence in the West Bank escalates, yet amid these crises they are showing remarkable resilience and emerging as trusted leaders in their communities. “Their voices and perspectives must not be sidelined. It’s time for local and international stakeholders to value the essential contribution of women by increasing funding to women-led organisations and ensuring women have a seat at the table when crucial decisions about Palestine and its future are being made.”
As the war in Gaza continues and violence escalates in the West Bank, the voices of Palestinian women mustn’t be only heard but acted upon. ActionAid is calling for urgent increased funding to women-led organizations, whose expertise and leadership are key to the recovery and peacebuilding efforts. Women must have a central role in all peace negotiations and reconstruction processes, ensuring their unique perspectives and solutions are part of building a sustainable future for Palestine.
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Riham Jafari and other spokespeople are available.
About ActionAid
ActionAid is a global federation working with more than 41 million people living in more than 71 of the world’s poorest countries. We want to see a just, fair, and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality and to eradicate poverty.