Gaza – The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons stated that International Women’s Day, observed on March 8, serves as a grim reminder of the escalating tragedy of thousands of missing women in the Gaza Strip. This crisis continues to worsen 28 months into the genocidal war waged by the Israeli military, compounded by a total inability to recover victims from beneath the debris of destroyed homes and residential buildings.
In a formal statement, the Center reported that field estimates indicate approximately 8,000 people are currently missing across the Strip. Among them are at least 3,200 women and girls, though other data suggests women may constitute up to 70% of the total missing. Precise documentation remains nearly impossible due to the massive scale of destruction and the extreme difficulty in accessing site ruins.
The Center noted that as International Women’s Day returns this year, thousands of women are still lost under the rubble or within Israeli military operational zones, while others remain victims of enforced disappearance in Israeli detention centers. These figures reflect a catastrophic humanitarian toll specifically targeting women; thousands of Palestinian families have been decimated by widespread shelling of residential neighborhoods, resulting in entire families being buried under ruins without the possibility of recovery or final status documentation.
According to the rights group, field data confirms that the vast majority of missing women are presumed to be trapped under the wreckage of homes leveled by Israeli airstrikes during continuous military assaults.
The Center highlighted that Civil Defense teams have been unable to recover victims due to the systematic lack of heavy machinery and specialized equipment required to safely clear rubble. This, combined with the destruction of infrastructure and the crippling of Civil Defense capabilities, leaves thousands of families in a state of perpetual limbo between hope and despair regarding the fate of their daughters and mothers.
Parallel to this, the Center expressed mounting concerns over Palestinian women being held as “forcibly disappeared” within Israeli prisons. It documented the arrest of dozens of women from the Gaza Strip during military operations. The Israeli authorities’ refusal to fully disclose the fate or whereabouts of some detainees raises serious alarms regarding enforced disappearance—a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law.
The rights group warned that the tragedy of the missing is part of a broader catastrophic reality for Palestinian women. To date, 12,500 women have been killed, including 9,000 mothers, while 21,193 women have been widowed since October 7, 2023. These figures signal a dangerous expansion of familial and social fragmentation resulting from the direct targeting of civilians.
The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons emphasized that the international community’s preoccupation with regional crises, including the ongoing conflict with Iran, must not serve as a pretext to ignore the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The issue of the missing, particularly women, remains an open wound requiring urgent and organized international intervention.
The Center called upon international human rights bodies, UN committees on women and missing persons, and relevant UN agencies to take immediate practical steps. These include:
Pressuring for the entry of heavy machinery and specialized equipment into Gaza to allow rescue teams to recover bodies from the rubble.
Launching independent international investigations into the fate of the missing.
Compelling Israeli authorities to immediately disclose the detention locations of all women from Gaza and ensuring their protection from enforced disappearance.
The Center concluded that ending the tragedy of Gaza’s missing is a non-negotiable human and legal obligation. Allowing thousands of victims to remain under the rubble or in unknown fates constitutes a grave violation of the rights of victims and their families, demanding serious global action to halt this ongoing atrocity.
