6,600 miles away, piles of debris swarm around citizens, the air is hot, but the ground is muddy and wet. People carry jugs of water and bags of flour to share amongst dozens of people whilst trying to ignore the loud buzzing of drones, flying missiles, and arbitrary gunfire around them. Each day is a battle to survive in the disastrous conditions of their open air prison.
In Gaza, men and women are forced to live with unbearable circumstances. Men constantly get imprisoned or killed. And women are demanded to trudge through day to day agonies.
People are repeatedly displaced. These women are not even allowed to feel a small sense of comfort after settling down. They move from one ragged cluttered tent to another.
The cost of living in a small, damp tent is around 100 USD a month. There are very few ways to receive an income. Many women resort to begging for donations on social media, just to gain little to no traction on their videos. They are not able to buy food to sustain their bodies.
According to the IPC, around a quarter of a million women and girls in Gaza are starving. Many are dying. Pregnant women are forced to deal with rapidly declining health. Mothers cannot produce breastmilk to feed their newborns. They fear sending their children to school because education shelters have been bombed many times. They walk around the rubble that buried their mothers, fathers, husbands, sisters, brothers and children.
What is there to do? There is a looming cloud of despair over all their heads, every step feels like one closer to death. For mothers, every little food they can get goes straight to their children. They try to deal with starvation but it is even harder to watch their babies slowly die in front of them.
Moreover, with no way to manage menstrual hygiene, many of them feel as though they have been stripped of their dignity. Menstrual products are either unavailable or unaffordable and with little privacy due to lack of shelter, women carry an even greater burden of shame on their back.
Gazan women must try to balance being a mother, father, and the head of a household all at once. But it is no small feat. Although they are living and pushing through impossible conditions, many of these women don’t feel strong. Days don’t get easier or brighter. Circumstances don’t become manageable. There is too much going on for too long. Ceasefires are supposed to promise reprieve from bombs and deaths, but the truth is not much has changed. These women pray for some sort of respite but it is unsure when they will be granted a break.
Until the women in Gaza see freedom, no woman around the world is free. Gazans unjustly bear the brunt of the world’s actions, and all of humanity needs to advocate for their liberation.