The burden of being a woman in the midst of genocide: Gaza in limbo Day 8

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Three Palestinians were killed and seven others injured in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, according to medical sources on Saturday.

Palestinian medics and rescue teams have also recovered seven more bodies from the rubble in the Gaza Strip.

The burden of being a woman in the midst of genocide

In a statement on the occasion of International Women’s Day, the head of the Gaza government’s media office, Salama Maarouf, said: “The Israeli aggression in Gaza has caused irreversible damage to the lives of countless Palestinian women and girls, particularly in the wake of Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign.”

“The Israeli genocide in Gaza has left 2,000 women and girls permanently disabled due to amputations, with 162 women suffering from contagious diseases, while dozens more have been tortured in detention centers,” he added.

Maarouf further emphasized the devastating toll the violence has had on women, with 13,901 women widowed and forced to become the sole providers for their families, 17,000 mothers mourning the loss of their children, and 50,000 pregnant women who lost their babies under inhumane conditions.

“The occupation forces have cold-bloodedly killed 12,316 Palestinian women since the beginning of the assault,” he added.

Maarouf also pointed out that Israeli forces have killed 24 female Palestinian journalists during its genocidal war on Gaza.

“Their status as women could not protect them from the Israeli army nor could their journalistic immunity shield them from the murderous entity,” he added.

He also accused the international community of “failing to take substantial action,” saying that “many responses have been limited to statements of condemnation,” which he deemed “hypocritical and inadequate.”

In another statement issued on International Women’s Day, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said: “The policy of detaining Palestinian women has been one of the most prominent systematic measures employed by the Israeli occupation, historically targeting women, including minors.”

The organization revealed that the 21 detained women face “systematic abuse in Israeli prisons, particularly since the onset of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.” 

The 21 female prisoners include a three-month pregnant woman, a cancer patient, and a 12-year-old girl.

They also include a woman from Gaza, where a truce deal between Hamas and Israel has seen the Palestinian group release dozens of captives in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, many of them women and minors.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, human rights organizations have documented 490 cases of Palestinian women being arrested, including minors.

RELATED: Incarcerated Palestinian women: A never-ending struggle

Feminism in the MENA region: A history of liberation struggles

Feminism in the MENA region has always struggled for national liberation and self-determination. Arising alongside anti-colonial movements in the late nineteenth century, women fought both gender oppression and foreign rule. In Egypt, the 1923 Egyptian Feminist Union linked gender equality to the broader push for Arab unity. Palestinian women played key roles in resistance, notably in the 1929 Buraq uprising against British rule. Algerian women were central to the armed struggle of the National Liberation Front (FLN) against French colonialism. Across the region, feminism was inseparable from the fight against imperialism.

Yet, today, this radical legacy is often erased. Palestinian women, for instance, have spent over a century resisting occupation—from challenging early Zionist settlements to leading grassroots organizing during the first Intifada. They initiated boycotts, sustained resistance movements and endured brutal repression, proving that their fight was never just about rights, but about liberation.

Women under colonial rule have consistently fought on two fronts: against the violence of occupation and the patriarchal structures that facilitate their oppression. Their struggle transcends mere visibility or tokenism; it is about reclaiming sovereignty, identity and fundamental liberties in defiance of systematic attempts to erase them.

Palestinian woman recalls how Israeli drone targeted and killed multiple family members

Hamas says Israel is aggravating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and hurting its hostages in the process

Trump’s Turnberry golf resort defaced with ‘Gaza not for sale’ graffiti

Palestine Action activists defaced US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, spray-painting “Gaza is not for sale” across the clubhouse and greens.

The group targeted his resort in Girvan, South Ayrshire in protest of Trump’s widely condemned plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries.

In addition to the graffiti, several holes on the course were dug up across the golf fields.

Claiming responsibility, Palestine Action said in an online post: “Whilst Trump attempts to treat Gaza as his property, he should know his own property is within reach”.