Average of 47 women and girls killed daily during Gaza war, UN says

InternationalAverage of 47 women and girls killed daily during Gaza war, UN saysBy Reuters -Apr 17, 2026An average of at least 47 women and girls were killed each day during the war in Gaza, according to figures ​published by U.N. Women on Friday, and the agency warned that ‌deaths have continued six months into a fragile ceasefire. More than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and December 2025, according to the report by U.N. ​Women, an agency that focuses on gender equality. “Women and girls accounted ​for a proportion of deaths far higher than those observed in ⁠previous conflicts in Gaza,” Sofia Calltorp, the agency’s humanitarian action head, told reporters ​in Geneva. “They were individuals with lives and with dreams,” she added. The agency expressed ​concern that the killing of women and girls has continued since an October ceasefire, though it does not know exactly how many have died due to a lack of gender-aggregated ​data. October’s ceasefire halted two years of full-scale war but left Israeli troops in ​control of a depopulated zone that makes up well over half of Gaza, with Hamas ‌in ⁠power in the remaining, narrow, coastal strip. More than 750 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to local medics. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for ceasefire violations. U.N. ⁠children’s agency UNICEF said on Friday that children continued to be killed and injured at an alarming rate in Gaza, ​with at least 214 reported dead in the last ​six months. Around ⁠one million women and girls are displaced in Gaza, U.N. Women said. “Extensive damage to infrastructure has made it almost impossible for women and girls in Gaza to access ⁠their ​basic needs like healthcare,” said Calltorp. World Health Organization ​figures show more than 500,000 women lack access to essential services including antenatal and postnatal care ​and management of sexually transmitted infections.