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

Important facts

• Nearly one in four households in Gaza is headed by a woman.
• 246 Palestinian women and girls have been killed since the October 2025 ceasefire.
• Female-headed households tend to lack shelter, food and cash.

According to new data from UN Womennearly one in four households in Gaza is reported to be headed by a woman, totaling an estimated 86,290 families. “This number is double what it was before October 2023 and follows widespread killings of Palestinians,” said Sofia Calltorp, Head of Humanitarian Action at the agency.

This update comes 11 months after a ceasefire agreement was reached between Hamas fighters and Israel. They have not stopped the ongoing firefights and killing of 246 Palestinian women and girls as a result of Israeli aerial bombardment and military ground operations in Gaza.

“This equates to six women and girls murdered every week between October 2025 and July 28 2026,” Calltorp said.

Restrictions, insecurity and bombing

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

“There are restrictions on humanitarian access, insecurity and ongoing Israeli bombing,” he explained. “Women who are heads of households are forced every day to make impossible decisions about how to allocate scarce resources, how to access help and ensure the survival of the people they care for.”

Among the victims was 18-year-old Raghad Ashour, “killed in an Israeli attack on his way to high school exams in Gaza City”, Calltorp said. “Thirty-one-year-old Dina Almadhoun was killed in an attack in Gaza City; a six-year-old girl was killed in a helicopter attack on a camp of refugee families in the Mawasi area of ​​Khan Younis.”

The overall reported death toll since the ceasefire agreement is 1,303 fatalities and 4,336 injured, according to Gaza health authorities cited by the UN aid coordination office. Ocha.

UN WomenThe analysis also shows that women who are heads of households tend to lack shelter, food and money compared to women who are heads of households. “They are also more likely to be displaced or have their homes destroyed,” Ms. Calltorp emphasized.

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

Palestinians live in less than 40 percent of the Gaza Strip as the Israeli government continues to restrict access to areas beyond what are known as the “Yellow” and “Orange” lines. More than half of the population (58 percent) faces critical or catastrophic housing needs, according to Ochawho said that when the “Yellow Line” was established after the ceasefire, it covered about 53 percent of the Gaza Strip.

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

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

“The ceasefire must be implemented to its full potential, humanitarian assistance must reach those in need on a large scale and without hindrance and build on the needs of women and girls – including those who own households.”