Over 12,000 Palestinian Women Killed in Israel’s Gaza Genocide, Including 9,000 Mothers

On Mar 9, 2026

Gaza (QNN)- Over 12,000 Palestinian women have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, including 9,000 mothers, according to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, amid reports that Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian women and girls.

On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs said Palestinian women are observing this day amid one of the most severe humanitarian catastrophes in modern history.

This comes as a result of the Israeli genocide since October 2023, “which has targeted the Palestinian people as well as the social and economic fabric of society.”

According to the Ministry, the Israeli genocidal war has left:

21,193 women widowed, having lost their husbands since October 7, 2023, an alarming indicator of the growing family and social disintegration caused by the direct targeting of civilians.
In addition, 22,426 fathers have been killed, leaving thousands of families without their primary breadwinner.
Data also shows that more than 6,020 families have been wiped out with only one survivor remaining, often a woman or a child.
Furthermore, 2,700 families have been completely exterminated and erased from the civil registry, representing one of the most horrific examples of the systematic targeting of Palestinian families.
As a result of the killing of husbands and the arrest of thousands, tens of thousands of women have become the sole providers for their families. The 21,193 widows now bear the responsibility of supporting themselves and their children amid a total economic collapse.
Meanwhile, more than 350,000 families require shelter after their homes were destroyed, further increasing the burden on women who head households. The crisis is compounded by the presence of over two million internally displaced people across the Strip, including more than half a million women and nearly one million children, living under extremely harsh humanitarian conditions.
Estimates also indicate that around 107,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women face serious health risks due to the collapse of the healthcare system and the lack of essential medical care.

Since the beginning of the genocide, more than 12,500 women have been killed, including over 9,000 mothers, leaving tens of thousands of children without maternal care.

Statistics show that more than 55% of those killed are children, women, and the elderly, clearly demonstrating the civilian nature of the victims. In addition, more than 12,000 miscarriages have been recorded among pregnant women due to severe malnutrition and the collapse of the healthcare system.

The war has also left 56,348 children orphaned, having lost one or both parents, placing further caregiving burdens on women under extremely harsh conditions. Moreover, 460 people have died from hunger and malnutrition, including women and children—an alarming sign of the worsening humanitarian catastrophe.

Data also indicates more than 2,142,000 cases of infectious diseases resulting from forced displacement and overcrowding, conditions that disproportionately affect women. At the same time, around 650,000 children face the risk of death due to malnutrition, further intensifying the suffering of mothers struggling to protect their children in the absence of the most basic necessities of life.

These shocking figures confirm that “Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip have been at the forefront of both the targeting and the suffering during this war,” the Ministry noted.

“They are the martyrs, the widows, the grieving mothers, and the breadwinners who carry the responsibility of sustaining their families amid unprecedented and catastrophic conditions, within the context of an ongoing genocide and the systematic destruction of the social and economic fabric.”

The data comes as reports confirmed that Israel is deliberately targeting the Palestinian women and girls. In 2025, UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem detailed Israel’s “femicide-genocide” in Gaza, presenting evidence of deliberate targeting of Palestinian women and girls to disrupt reproductive continuity.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, since the start of its genocide, the Israeli forces have 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,” the monitor said.

Euro-Med Monitor 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 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.”

On Sunday, Al-Haq said “Palestine is a feminist issue.” Marking Women’s Day, Al-Haq added that “Palestinian women’s lives are shaped by the intersecting realities of Israel’s unlawful occupation, settler-colonial apartheid regime, and ongoing genocidal violence.”