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More than 28,000 women and girls have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war in October 2023, according to a new estimate released by UN Women. The analysis painted a devastating picture of the ongoing conflict, with women and girls dying at an average rate of one every hour during Israeli attacks.
The toll included thousands of mothers, the agency said, leaving behind children, families, and communities shattered by grief. The report underscored the vast scale of human suffering in Gaza as the war entered its 20th month and the humanitarian situation worsened.
Since the ceasefire collapse in March 2025, Gaza has faced a near-total blockade on aid. The United Nations warned that more than a million women and girls now face catastrophic levels of hunger. The population has run critically low on food and essential supplies, with increasing risks of famine and disease. Displacement, maternal mortality, and the absence of basic protection have compounded the crisis for women and girls.
“Countless lives hang in the balance,” UN Women said, stressing that their efforts to work with women-led civil society organisations were severely constrained by lack of access, funding, and resources. The organisation called for an immediate ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access, and the release of all hostages and arbitrarily detained individuals.
The figure of 28,000 deaths included both reported fatalities and “excess deaths” — those likely uncounted due to the collapse of health and reporting infrastructure. UN Women based its methodology on a February 2025 analysis published in the medical journal The Lancet, which suggested that deaths in Gaza may have been underreported by about 41 per cent.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian emergency showed no signs of easing. Tom Fletcher, the UN’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, on May 20, 2025 warned that 14,000 babies could die within 48 hours if aid was not delivered urgently. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said lorries containing baby food and nutrition supplies were ready to move but remained stuck at the border.
“We need to flood the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid,” Fletcher said. “The situation is chilling.”
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of misusing aid, a charge Hamas has denied. On May 19, 2025 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel would allow only a “minimal, basic bridge” of supplies to prevent famine. The Kerem Shalom crossing, a key commercial route into southern Gaza, saw some aid deliveries authorised for the first time in 11 weeks.
However, no aid was distributed on May 19, 2025 according to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. UN teams waited for hours for Israeli permission to access the Kerem Shalom area but were unable to transport nutrition supplies to warehouses. “More supplies have come into the Gaza Strip,” Dujarric said, “but we have not been able to secure their arrival at delivery points.”
The IPC, the global partnership that monitors food security, warned earlier this month that 71,000 children under five were expected to be acutely malnourished in Gaza over the next 11 months, with more than 14,000 likely to face the most severe form of malnutrition.
As conditions worsened, UN agencies reiterated their appeals for urgent international action.