Gaza: 28,000 Widows Must Serve as Breadwinners 

Today, there are more than 28,000 widows in Gaza according to the Ministry of Social Development. These widows are living through one of the most severe humanitarian crises in modern history, amidst the ongoing conflict that has led to a surge in the number of women solely bearing the responsibility of supporting their families under exceptionally difficult circumstances.

In a press release, Wednesday, the Ministry revealed a sharp increase in the number of widows during the current war, reaching 28,224, compared to 22,596 before the war began.

Gaza City has recorded the highest percentage of widows at 40.8%, followed by North Gaza at 22.5% with the two northern governorates accounting for more than 70% of the urgent interventions needed to support the families of martyrs, according to the Ministry.

According to official statistics, approximately 64% of widows, or about 16,877 women, are of working age (18-45 years old), necessitating the launch of urgent economic empowerment programs.

The Ministry indicated that elderly widows aged 60 and over constitute 14.9%, while widows under the age of 18 represent about 0.4%.

Last May, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research reported in a research paper the war on Gaza led to an unprecedented increase in the phenomenon of women breadwinners, with the number of widows exceeding 22,000 according to Quds Press.

The center emphasized that addressing this phenomenon requires a comprehensive vision that integrates women breadwinners into the production and reconstruction process, recognizing them as essential elements in social and economic recovery, not merely recipients of aid.

The 23rd of June marks International Widows’ Day, established by the United Nations to highlight the economic and social challenges facing widows, most notably poverty, deprivation of inheritance, and the absence of social protection.

Since October 8, 2023, Israel, with American and European support, has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip, including killing, starvation, destruction, displacement, and arrests, ignoring international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice to cease its actions.

The genocide left more than 246,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of displaced people and a famine that claimed the lives of many, most of them children, as well as widespread destruction and the erasure of most of the cities and areas of the Gaza Strip from the map.