Highlights: As fighting intensifies in southern Gaza, the health situation in the Palestinian enclave continues to deteriorate. With an increasingly dense population in UN shelters, access to toilets is increasingly complicated. For women, there is another difficulty: the shortage of sanitary napkins. More than 690,000 women and adolescent girls need menstrual products, in addition to water and soap – something Gazans have very little access to for cleaning themselves. “There is no personal place where women can go,” notes Dr. Ayed Yaghi, head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.

As fighting intensifies in southern Gaza, the health situation in the Palestinian enclave continues to deteriorate. With an increasingly dense population in UN shelters,…

Having your period in the middle of the war in Gaza: one more ordeal for women

As fighting intensifies in southern Gaza, the health situation in the Palestinian enclave continues to deteriorate.

With an increasingly dense population in UN shelters, access to toilets is increasingly complicated.

For women, there is another difficulty: the shortage of sanitary napkins.

A young Palestinian combs her sister's hair, sitting on their belongings in the street and while others set up a tent for shelter in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on December 12, 2023. AFP - MOHAMMED ABED

By: Clea Broadhurst Follow |

Guilhem Delteil Follow

Nour (an assumed first name) has now been living in displacement camps in the south of the Gaza Strip for three months.

This mother and her family, originally from the north of the Palestinian enclave, had first found refuge in Khan Younes then in Rafah, when the fighting intensified in the southern half of the Palestinian enclave.

With her husband and children, they live in a tent set up in a UNRWA shelter, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

Today, 85% of Gaza's residents are displaced.

Like Nour and her family, thousands of people came to take shelter in their shelter.

They live there crowded together, in the hope of being a little safer, while this Wednesday,

shooting at an Unrwa center in Khan Younes left nine people dead and at least 75 injured

One toilet for 486 people

“

There are bombings, shootings, displacements: we do not have the minimum subsistence level

,” says Nour.

This household of five people must share a bottle a day, sometimes every other day.

Food is also scarce.

“

But beyond that, women and girls are also suffering due to the extreme lack of feminine hygiene products: sanitary napkins and period products are out of stock.

The shortage of these hygiene products began just a few weeks after the start of hostilities.

Since then, for Gazan women,

each period has become an ordeal

: “

Women experience their periods in very difficult conditions

,” adds Nour.

Nearly 1 million women and girls have been displaced since the war in #Gaza began.

Overall, in #Gaza there are over 690,000 menstruating women and adolescent girls who require menstrual hygiene products, in addition to access to clean water, toilets and privacy.

@UNFPA https://t.co/wvJeNU1BCE

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) January 23, 2024

In UN shelters, the population density is such that displaced people have to queue for several hours to access the toilets.

According to UNRWA, in its shelters, 486 people now have to share a toilet, and according to the organization, more than 690,000 women and adolescent girls need menstrual products, in addition to water and soap. – something Gazans have very little access to for cleaning themselves.

“

There is no personal place where women can go

,” notes Dr. Ayed Yaghi, head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in the Gaza Strip.

Read alsoIsrael-Hamas War: in Gaza, a critical situation for pregnant women

Take birth control pills to avoid periods

Gazans therefore find themselves forced to take the contraceptive pill or make makeshift towels.

“

Due to the lack of sanitary napkins and water to wash and sterilize, a large number of women take the contraceptive pill to avoid having their periods

,” says Nour.

“

But it is obvious that regular taking of this pill will lead, in the future, to hormonal disorders for women

,” underlines Doctor Ayed Yaghi.

“

This can also lead to infertility in the future

,” even fears Nour.

“

But even this pill is no longer available now.
Only a few women are still able to obtain it

,” says the doctor.

As fighting pushes more civilians from their homes every day, the population density in Rafah, in the far south of the Palestinian enclave, is increasing.

There are more and more displaced people in UN shelters, thus reducing access to toilets.

And women are a little more helpless.

Now, they use pieces of towel or clothing to absorb period blood.

“

They even use pieces of tent

,” a humanitarian worker told the Arab News site.

Unsuitable and dirty materials, which increase the risk of infections.

Also read [Live] Gaza: a UN center targeted in Khan Younes, under fire from Israeli strikes

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your inbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Continue reading on the same themes:

Gaza
Womens rights
Health and medicine
Palestinian territories
Israelo-Palestinian conflict

Having your period in the middle of the war in Gaza: one more ordeal for women

Having your period in the middle of the war in Gaza: one more ordeal for women

One toilet for 486 people

Take birth control pills to avoid periods

Trends 24h

Latest