Gaza’s hidden war: women’s health under siege

There is a ‘hidden war’ in Gaza and it is being fought on top of the bombardment of bombings by Israel.

This is the ‘War on Women’s Health’, as the UN has labelled it. The UN report which was released in September of 2024 details in-depth statistics of the destruction which is taking place to women’s health in the aftermath of the attack on Gaza by Israel.

In the report, it is believed that 177,000 women are facing life-threatening health risks with the high number being the catalyst of the destruction of healthcare infrastructure in the region where 84% has been destroyed or damaged.

With the ceasefire ending definitively on March 18th, 2025, the future of Palestine and the small chance for women to gain access to healthcare during peaceful periods—let alone during a full-scale attack—has truly disappeared.

Now 170,000 women are forced back into a displaced state where they must endure endless amounts of pain on top of living in a state of disarray with Israel halting all aid into Gaza since March 2025 making the situation all the more pressing.

With the block being inserted, essential medical supplies have become short and reserved for those in life-threatening situations as the hospitals have become overrun or simply destroyed. This is the case in North Gaza Governorate where there is no functioning hospital.

Gynaecological illnesses such as endometriosis, fibroids, cysts and PCOS (Polycystic ovarian syndrome) are the conditions which have become the norm on top of seeing their loved ones die and their home destroyed.

Saada Ahmed is a fifty-seven-year-old woman who suffers from endometriosis and has seen her condition drastically worsen under the Israeli attacks.

When speaking to The New Arab, Ahmed explained that her condition causes severe vaginal bleeding which has been the catalyst for issues such as shortness of breath, frequent fainting and heart palpitations.

Ahmed has been unable to get surgery with the current end to ceasefire and when explained in tears to The New Arab, “I feel like I have no value. I don’t know if I’ll bleed to death! I don’t know where to go. I keep calling my doctor but she doesn’t pick up.”

This sense of being abandoned is widespread among many women who are suffering from illness in the region and it has exacerbated the situation of chronic and cancer-related illnesses.

Cancer death rates have risen from 20% to 50% in cases related to gynaecological, uterine and ovarian cancers explains Dr Ghassan Abu Al-Qumbuz who was formerly the head of the oncology unit at Al Shifa’s Women and Maternity Hospital.

Alongside this, the only cancer hospital in the region was the Turkish Hospital which was destroyed in November 2023.

Female cancer patient Rafah when speaking to the UN reiterated the dramatic statements of the lack of care available for patients such as herself and Ahmed and how it has drastically changed since the Israeli attacks.

“Previously, I used to receive dedicated care at an oncology hospital, but it is now destroyed, leaving no services for cancer patients,” stated Rafah.

The devastating lack of care and attention which can be given to female patients is just part of the wider devastation of Israel’s attacks on Gaza. It appears that women are being left to the back of the queue not for the want of trying but for the sheer overwhelming nature of Israel’s attacks and blockade of Gaza’s infrastructure.

The ‘war on women’ in Gaza is a situation which has no solution as long as the attacks on Gaza continue to decimate the infrastructure in the region as women are relegated to the lowest priority in a situation when immediate life or death emergencies become the only focus.

UN, Maghrebi.org, The New Arab, UK Parliament