In Gaza, women-headed households face ‘impossible choices’ to survive

amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes and still-scarce resources, UN humanitarians said. 

Key facts 

• Nearly one in four Gaza households is headed by a woman. 
• 246 Palestinian women and girls killed since October 2025 ceasefire. 
• Women-headed households more likely to lack shelter, food and cash. 

According to new data from UN Women, nearly one in four households in Gaza is reportedly headed by a woman, an estimated 86,290 families. “This is double the pre-October 2023 rate and follows the widespread killings of Palestinians,” said Sofia Calltorp, Chief of Humanitarian Action at the agency. 

The update comes 11 months after a ceasefire agreement was reached between Hamas fighters and Israel. It has not halted ongoing exchanges of fire and the killing of 246 Palestinian women and girls by Israeli air bombardment and military ground operations in Gaza. 

“This is equivalent to six women and girls killed every week between October 2025 and 28 July 2026,” Ms. Calltorp said.  

Restrictions, insecurity and bombardment

Across the enclave today, access to food, drinking water, hygiene supplies and essential services remains “severely limited”, the UN official told journalists in Geneva.  

“There are restrictions on humanitarian access, insecurity and continued Israeli bombardment,” she explained. “Women heading households are every day forced to make impossible decisions on how to allocate scarce resources, how to access assistance and simply ensure the survival of those in their care.”  

Among the victims are 18-year-old Raghad Ashour, “killed in an Israeli strike on her way to her 11th grade high school exam in Gaza City”, Ms. Calltorp said. “Thirty-one-year-old Dina Almadhoun was killed in a strike in Gaza City; a six-year-old girl was killed in a helicopter strike on an encampment for displaced families in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis.” 

The overall reported casualty toll since the ceasefire agreement is 1,303 fatalities and 4,336 injuries, according to Gazan health authorities cited by the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. 

UN Women’s analysis also showed that women who head households are more likely to lack shelter, food and money than male-headed households. “They are also more likely to be displaced or have their home destroyed,” Ms. Calltorp stressed. 

As a result of the war, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel in October 2023, most of Gaza’s population of around 2.1 million people remains displaced today. 

Palestinians are confined to less than 40 per cent of the Gaza Strip as Israeli authorities continue to restrict access to areas beyond what are known as the “Yellow” and “Orange” lines. More than half of the population (58 per cent) faces critical or catastrophic shelter needs, according to OCHA, which said that when the “Yellow Line” was established following the ceasefire, it covered around 53 per cent of the Gaza Strip. 

These restrictions later expanded, leaving around two-thirds of Gaza either inaccessible or subject to severe access restrictions, with civilians confined to crowded and unsafe areas. 

“Responding to the realities faced by all women-headed households is essential to ensuring that women are seen, counted, empowered and supported,” UN Women said.

“The ceasefire must be implemented in full effect, humanitarian assistance must reach those in need at scale and without obstruction and built around the needs of women and girls – including those heading households.”