Women activists report from Gaza

The growing critique among world leaders and the public against the Israeli governments war crimes was abruptly overshadowed by the violent escalation between Iran and Israel, now with support from the US.

However, the Israeli bombings and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza continues with people getting killed and dying every day due to the 627 days ongoing attacks aiming to destroy Palestinian lives, and their future. Reports about the chaos and shootings of hundreds of desperate people trying to get food for their families at the militarized Israeli and US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) distribution centers confirms that Israel has no intention of protecting civilians. Partners to The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation say that the risk is very high that you won’t come back alive from those areas.

Still, people are doing all they can to survive in Gaza. Two of the organisations that Kvinna till Kvinna cooperates with, Women’s Affair Center (WAC) and AISHA Association for Women and Child Protection, wrote the other day to us about their situation. How they despite all are managing to continue their work, reaching tens of thousands of individuals across the Gaza strip with psychosocial support, hygiene kits, medical kits and assessments and lifesaving gender-based violence services. They write that the situation is deteriorating with people having to constantly move, living in overcrowded unsafe shelters that lack privacy and the minimum requirement for dignity, especially for women and girls.

Women are witnessing how gender-based violence is increasing in displacement settings with no safe spaces, and the total breakdown of the legal system and lack of professional support increases the risks. Over 15,000 pregnant women are in danger due to the collapse of the maternal healthcare system, malnutrition and lack of reproductive health services. AISHA reports that children they meet are showing severe symptoms of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and there is a clear gendered difference. Boys demonstrate more aggression and risky behaviours such as handling UXOs while girls show higher level of anxiety, social withdrawal and persistent fear. The sharp increase in child-parent separation, early marriages and impunity shows the urgent need for child protection and psychosocial services.

AISHA and WAC and other civil society organisations continue their important work despite themselves being under immense psychological and physical burdens due to the ongoing war—they have lost colleagues and family members.

Their efforts show the important role of local women’s organisations who have the contacts and trust in the communities to reach people in need. Their work will endure, they will continue with psychological first aid sessions, individual support services, recreation days for girls, distribution of dignity kits and more.

But of course, their heroic efforts are band aids on gaping wounds. What is needed is an end to the war and the occupation. What we see is in Gaza an ongoing genocide, which have repercussions across the world, increasing the divides and undermining the international human rights system by the flagrant double standards shown by western leaders. They must speak up, and finally do the right thing—by doing the very basic: recognise that Palestinians are people with equal human rights, and that we, as international community, have an obligation to protect them with all tools at hand, including stopping arms trade to Israel, suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement and demanding immediate humanitarian access according to international law.

—The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation