Geneva, April 17 (RHC)-- The United Nations says more than 10,000 women have been killed in the besieged Gaza Strip since Israel launched its savage campaign in early October.  A UN body which is dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women has compiled a report on the subject.

The report noted that among those who had lost their lives, an astonishing estimated number of 6,000 were mothers, with their deaths leaving virtually 19,000 children orphaned.  The UN report warned women who have survived the Israeli airstrikes and ground operations now face displacement, widowhood, hunger, and other hardships.

Susanne Mikhail is the regional director of UN Women in the Arab States. She briefed the media on the report in Geneva.  “Women who have survived the bombing are suffering daily starvation, sickness, and constant fear. The war in Gaza is no doubt a war on women, who are paying a heavy price for a war not of their making.”

Over one million Palestinian women and girls in the besieged territory are facing “catastrophic hunger,” the report has warned.

The report also called for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2728, adopted on March 25, to enforce an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, release all detained individuals, and ensure safe and unimpeded humanitarian access.

Israel launched the brutal campaign in the Gaza Strip on October 7. The death toll from the regime’s genocidal atrocities now tops 34,000, mostly women and children.

Figures also show more than 14,500 of Gaza’s 1.1 million children have been killed since that October day. Thousands more are missing, presumed buried under the rubble, their deaths unmarked.