Mon Dec 30 09:18:54 UTC 2024: ## Gaza Women Face Humiliation and Hardship in Overcrowded Camps
**Gaza City** – The ongoing conflict in Gaza has left hundreds of thousands displaced and living in overcrowded tent camps, where women are facing daily indignities and severe hardship. The lack of privacy in the densely packed camps, where families are forced to share tents with extended family and strangers, is forcing women to abandon normal modesty practices.
Many women, like Alaa Hamami, a mother of three, are constantly wearing their prayer shawls to maintain a sense of modesty in the absence of privacy. “Our whole lives have become prayer clothes,” Hamami said, highlighting the loss of dignity experienced by women in the camps.
Beyond the lack of privacy, women are struggling to access basic necessities. Wafaa Nasrallah, a mother of two, described the challenges of obtaining sanitary products, resorting to using scraps of cloth and repurposed nappies due to soaring prices and scarcity. Access to adequate sanitation is also severely limited, with many women using makeshift toilets – holes dug in the ground – shared by dozens.
The situation is exacerbated by the approaching winter, increasing the vulnerability and exposure of women. Many are forced to choose between buying food and water or sanitary products.
The United Nations estimates that over 690,000 women and girls in Gaza require menstrual hygiene products, clean water, and proper sanitation facilities. However, aid deliveries are hampered by continued restrictions on access to Gaza, leaving aid workers struggling to meet the overwhelming demand. Supplies are piling up at border crossings, further compounding the suffering of women already facing immense challenges in the besieged territory.
First Piper 