CrossFireArabia
Since the start of its genocide in October 2023, the Israeli army has killed an average of 21.3 women per day through direct bombardment of the Gaza Strip. This amounts to approximately one Palestinian woman per hour, not including those who have died due to siege, starvation, or lack of medical care—none of which are encompassed in the statistics.
The shocking, unprecedented rate at which women are being killed in the Gaza Strip reflects a systematic Israeli pattern of mass killings deliberately targeting Palestinian women, especially mothers. Euro-Med Monitor’s field team has documented the killing of thousands of women, many of them of childbearing age, including thousands of mothers killed alongside their children in their homes, displacement camps, temporary shelters, or while fleeing in search of safety or trying to protect their children from bombardment. The escalating pattern of daily targeting indicates that Israel is using the killing of Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip as a tool to destroy an entire demographic, falling within the crime of genocide under international law.
Field data reveals a systematic Israeli pattern of killing pregnant women and young mothers alongside their children, or while they attempt to care for and protect their families. This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and is an act that directly threatens the future of the Palestinian population.
Sabreen Salem, a survivor of an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza
Official health records confirm the killing of 12,400 Palestinian women, including 7,920 mothers, during the 582 days of Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. Field data further indicates that death rates among mothers, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women have reached unprecedented levels due to direct Israeli bombardment.
Euro-Med Monitor has documented several cases of mothers being killed, including Naifa Sadiq Zaki Ali Awida (24), her husband Abdul Salam Mahmoud al-Agha, and their two daughters, Ayloul (less than 24 days old) and Zeina (18 months old). They were killed in a direct Israeli strike while sleeping in their tent in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis at dawn on Sunday, 11 May 2025.
Nada Abu Shaqra, her husband Moatasem al-Alami, and two of their children were also killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a displacement camp in the same area.
A third family was targeted at dawn on Thursday, 17 April 2025: Khadija Asaliya (30), her husband Ghassan Asaliya (31), and their five children were killed in a drone strike on their tent in Jabalia, in the north of the Gaza Strip.
“We were about 135 people in the house. There was a sudden Israeli strike, and only 12 of us survived,” said Sabreen Salem, a survivor of an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza on 19 December 2024. The strike killed over 120 people, including children and “many women and pregnant women whose bodies were torn apart”, according to Salem. “It was an unbearable scene.”
Israeli targeting extends beyond killings, as 60,000 pregnant women are currently enduring severe conditions due to malnutrition, hunger, and inadequate healthcare, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. This situation results directly from Israel’s strict blockade and ban on the entry of goods and aid since early March.
The killing of Palestinian women and mothers, particularly pregnant women, follows a clear pattern of birth prevention, constituting a fundamental element of genocide under Article 2(d) of the 1948 Genocide Convention. This Article defines “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group” as an act of genocide.
Israel’s prevention of births in the Gaza Strip takes multiple forms, including the direct killing of women of childbearing age; the targeting of pregnant mothers; the destruction of healthcare infrastructure for childbirth as well as maternal care; the denial of essential medicines and medical supplies; the starvation of mothers and infants; and the lack of adequate nutrition for mothers and infants, resulting in slow deaths and severe health complications.
Palestinian mothers experience complex psychological distress due to the loss of their children, husbands, and/or homes, plus their inability to protect themselves, their families, and/or secure their livelihoods. The lack of safety and repeated displacements further intensify anxiety, depression, and severe psychological trauma.
“We have been displaced more than 10 times and survived many bombings,” said Abeer H., a mother of four from Gaza City who requested that her surname be withheld due to safety concerns. “I cannot reassure my children. Every night, they fall asleep to the sound of bombing, and I cry, fearing I might wake up to find none of them alive.”
She continued, “I have witnessed the tragedy of losing mothers and children. I have become a powerless mother, without food.”
All states, both individually and collectively, must fulfil their legal responsibilities by taking urgent action to stop the genocide in the Gaza Strip, through implementing effective measures to protect Palestinian civilians; ensuring Israel’s compliance with international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice; and holding Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinians. The International Criminal Court must reissue arrest warrants for the Israeli Prime Minister and Minister of Defence at the earliest opportunity, in accordance with the principle that there is no immunity for international crimes.
The international community must also impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel for its systematic and grave violations of international law. These sanctions should include an arms embargo; an end to all political, financial, and military support; freezing the assets of officials involved in crimes against Palestinians; imposing travel bans; and suspending trade privileges and bilateral agreements that provide Israel with economic benefits that enable its continued crimes.
