The Palestinian Authority has urged on International Women’s Day that the international community take responsibility for ensuring protection for Palestinian women.
Its Foreign Ministry highlighted that “519 days of Israel’s war on Gaza” have resulted in the killings of more than 12,298 women with thousands more subjected to forced displacement.
The ministry said in a statement, “Palestinian women stand at the heart of the struggle for survival, bearing the greatest burden of genocide, crimes against humanity, and attempts at forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.”
It added that 21 Palestinian women are currently being held in “harsh and inhumane conditions in Israeli prisons where they endure torture, solitary confinement, and medical neglect.”
At the same time, the head of Gaza’s Government Media Office, Salama Maarouf reported in marking International Women’s Day that 12,316 women have been killed throughout the war.
Maarouf said that Women’s Day coincides with the continuation of the Israeli siege and the prevention of aid as women live in catastrophic humanitarian conditions and suffer from starvation and thirst.
According to government data, at least 2,000 women and girls have been permanently disabled due to amputations.
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed three Palestinians and wounded several in the southern governorate of Rafah.
On Saturday morning, an Israeli drone targeted a group of people east of Rafah city, killing two Palestinians. Our colleagues on the ground reported that one person was also killed by Israeli fire in at-Tannour, also east of Rafah.
Since Friday night, Rafah has been the target of intense Israeli attacks from tanks and drones with shelling impacting residential areas, including al-Jnaina, ash-Shawka and Tal as-Sultan.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 48,453 Palestinians have been killed and 111,860 wounded by Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023.
Palestinian rescue teams have recovered seven more bodies from the rubble in Gaza, pushing the overall death toll from Israel’s war to 48,453.
Another six Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in the past 48 hours, a ministry statement said.
Eight wounded people were also admitted to hospitals, increasing the number of injured in the war to 111,860.
Talks On Ceasefire Future
This came as Hamas and Egyptian officials meet in Cairo for talks on the future of a precarious ceasefire.
A high-level Hamas delegation is holding talks with Egyptian officials over the second phase of the ceasefire.
According to one unnamed Hamas official told a news agency that during its talks with the Egyptian mediators, the Hamas delegation will demand that Israel “implement the agreement, begin negotiations for the second phase and open the border crossings to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.”
The official said that the Palestinian group wants a “comprehensive agreement that ensures a permanent and complete ceasefire.”
Hamas’s demands for the second phase include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to its blockade, the reconstruction of the territory and financial support based on the decisions of this week’s Arab summit in Cairo.
The Palestinian group once again accused Israel of “committing the war crime of collective punishment” by halting aid to Gaza for a seventh day, saying it also affected Israeli captives still held there.
“The repercussions of such crime extend beyond our people in Gaza to include the occupation’s prisoners [captives] held by the resistance, who are also affected by the lack of food, medicine and healthcare.”
Hamas
The movement said that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu “bears full responsibility” for the consequences of the aid block and accused him of “indifference” towards the captives held in Gaza.
On Sunday, Israel announced that it was blocking aid deliveries to Gaza until Palestinian fighters accepted its terms for an extension of the ceasefire which had largely halted more than 15 months of fighting.
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