The Women of Gaza

Over 60 per cent of the casualties in the Israel-Gaza war have been women and children. What is it like to be living in Gaza?

- Rakhi Bose

ZEINAB AL-GHANIMI used to love the calming effect of night time. But she does not long for the night anymore. After spending 11 nights of devastating war and bombardment by Israeli forces and surviving, Zeinab feels “the sun still hasn’t woken up” and that the “heavy night is never ending”. Despite advice and efforts to move her, Zeinab has remained in her home in Gaza City, which has faced incessant bombing since October 7. 

A feminist human rights defender and the director of the Centre for Legal Counselling and Protection for Women, Zeinab runs a shelter home for abused and abandoned women. At 71, she still walks and takes care of the shelter’s day-to-day business. But she can’t run from guns, much less with a backpack.