Women in the Gaza War

Israeli women were both targets of the October 7 attacks and participants in the military response, including as surveillance soldiers, tank crew members, drone operators, medical personnel, and search-and-rescue soldiers.[1] At Nahal Oz, women operating surveillance cameras facing Gaza were among those killed or abducted when the base fell.[9] Other female soldiers fought Hamas terrorists in communities near Gaza or subsequently entered the Strip in military roles.[10][11]

For Palestinian women in Gaza, displacement affected privacy, sanitation, and access to menstrual products.[4] Pregnancy and childbirth also took place under severely constrained conditions.[2] Estimates placed 52,000 pregnant women within the wartime population, with approximately 180 deliveries taking place each day and only three overwhelmed maternity hospitals remaining during the period covered by a 2024 report.[2] Women also assumed new household responsibilities: more than 3,000 were reported to have become widows and heads of households.[2]

The experiences documented extend beyond those directly attacked or deployed: bereaved families described difficulties obtaining information and identifying bodies, while wives of Israeli reservists reported depression, anxiety, and fear for serving partners.[12][13] Women also organized publicly around ending the war and securing the return of hostages.[6]

An all-women Israeli tank company that fought on October 7 had become permanent in 2022 following a two-year pilot.[10] Before the attack, it normally operated along the Egyptian border as part of the Caracal mixed-gender light infantry battalion.[10] Women also served as unarmed surveillance observers, monitoring sections of the Gaza border fence and reporting security concerns.[14]

On October 7, 2023, at least 280 women were killed and 90 women were abducted to Gaza in figures compiled from Israeli sources for an early international inquiry.[14] At Nahal Oz, the surveillance soldiers belonged to the Border Defense Corps’ 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit and operated cameras directed toward Gaza.[9] An account of the army’s subsequent investigation listed 16 female surveillance soldiers among 53 soldiers killed at the base, alongside seven female surveillance soldiers and three tank soldiers abducted.[9]

The investigation found that troops at Nahal Oz received no warning that morning and that the base’s response protocols did not provide for the kind of assault that occurred.[9] Female surveillance soldiers identified approaching Hamas squads and reported their movements to their deputy battalion commander before backup forces were called.[9] During the assault, Captain Eden Nimri positioned herself at a bomb-shelter entrance to protect unarmed surveillance soldiers and was killed after exhausting her ammunition.[9]

Survivors Yael Rotenberg and Maya Distiank described the persistence of the observers during the attack; Distiank remained with colleagues at her operations-room post for six hours, continuing announcements and supporting others.[15] A separate early account described 19 observation-unit women present during the assault, their flight to a safe room that was subsequently attacked, and seven surviving the initial assault, several of whom were kidnapped.[1]

The attacks also involved the abduction of multigenerational civilian families.[14] In one documented case from Nir Oz, a 34-year-old woman, her 68-year-old mother, and her daughters, aged four and two, were taken toward Gaza; the grandmother was killed on the way.[14] The released woman testified that she and a daughter were wounded during an exchange of fire as Israeli forces tried to stop the abductors.[14]

Within three weeks of October 7, more than 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza had become internally displaced.[16] By the end of 2023, more than half of Gaza’s population had crowded into Rafah; after evacuation orders affecting parts of the city in May 2024, more than 800,000 people left within days.[16] These displacement figures concern the overall population rather than women alone.[16]

Women’s tank crews drove from Nitzana to the Gaza border on October 7 and fought at several locations, including near Kibbutz Holit and Kibbutz Sufa, in engagements lasting about 17 hours.[10] Paran Brigade commander Colonel Shemer Raviv credited their actions with helping prevent the attack from spreading farther south.[10] One crew member rejected the emphasis on their gender, asking, “Boys, girls — what does it matter?”[10]

Women’s operational work extended to intelligence and artillery support.[1] A female soldier in the Skyrider drone unit operated within a system in which Skylark drones supplied information to artillery units.[1] Describing women’s wartime participation, she said, “I think this war is an uprising of women in the army.”[1] Women also served in mixed-gender border units, medical positions, and search-and-rescue formations, including a Shachar battalion operating in Gaza.[1]

An early-war account placed 70 female medical professionals with units in Gaza supporting troops.[1] Other reporting described women from search-and-rescue and Oketz units operating inside the Strip, alongside female medics treating wounded personnel.[11] These roles placed women within the ground campaign as well as in the defense of border communities.[1][11]

Staff Sergeant Agam Naim, a paramedic with the Armored Corps’ 52nd Battalion, had worked in Gaza for six months when she was killed in Rafah in September 2024.[17] She was reported as the first female soldier killed since the beginning of the ground incursion into Gaza.[17] Another female paramedic, Gaia Tzubari, was shot while treating wounded soldiers in Shijaiyah and later said, “Even if I had known this would happen, I would have gone in again.”[17]

Recruitment figures published on April 30, 2024, showed that the artillery corps received 195 percent of its targeted number of female recruits for March and April.[18] Applications from women for combat units had risen after the war began, and December 2023 figures already showed units receiving more than 100 percent of their recruitment targets for women.[18] The published figures did not include precise applicant totals or establish whether the additional applicants would be inducted.[18] Although more than 90 percent of IDF units and roles were open to women, many combat units remained closed to them.[18]

Field service also created particular health difficulties.[19] Female combat soldiers described limited washing facilities and clean clothing, damp or dirty uniforms, stress, and difficulty accessing gynecological care.[19] Reported complaints included vaginal yeast infections, urinary infections, chafing, and irregular bleeding; some menstrual irregularity was linked to missed or unavailable contraceptive pills during demanding operations.[19] These accounts describe reported experiences rather than a quantified assessment of all women serving in the war.[19]

Seven young women undertaking mandatory military service were abducted from Nahal Oz on October 7.[20] Ori Megidish was rescued after 23 days in Gaza during the first days of Israel’s ground operation.[1] Noa Marciano was killed in captivity, and her body was recovered near Shifa Hospital.[1] The remaining five female surveillance soldiers returned in January 2025.[9][20]

Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag were released on January 25, 2025, after 477 days in captivity.[3] Ariev, Gilboa, and Levy were reported as 20 years old and Albag as 19.[3] Agam Berger, described as the last female soldier held, was released on January 30.[20]

Accounts of the four women’s captivity described food deprivation, isolation, forced labor, scarce access to medical care, and confinement underground.[3] Levy wrote that she was alone much of the first 50 days and later found strength and hope through captivity with friends.[3] Women and girls also returned during the November 2023 pause in fighting, including Israeli women aged 18 to 67 and children.[20] Released captives and their relatives described underground confinement, limited food, and some individuals returning malnourished.[20]

A woman abducted from the Nova festival described the experience of being displayed to others: “I was a trophy. They [abductors] brought people from outside so they could look at me.”[14] Other returned hostages testified that they had experienced sexual abuse or witnessed abuse of fellow captives, alongside insufficient food, water, and medical treatment and other physical and psychological mistreatment.[21] The reporting of those testimonies did not specify the number or gender of the people giving them.[21]

A mission examining conflict-related sexual violence found “clear and convincing information” that some hostages had experienced rape, sexualized torture, and other sexual violence, based on first-hand accounts from released captives.[7] It also found reasonable grounds to believe that such violence might be ongoing at the time of its assessment.[7]

Crowded tent camps reduced women’s privacy and altered ordinary routines, with extended families sharing cramped shelters and strangers living nearby.[4] Makeshift toilets were sometimes holes in the ground shared by dozens of people.[4] Reporting on these conditions described more than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians as displaced from their homes, with hundreds of thousands living in camps.[4]

More than 690,000 women and girls were reported to need menstrual hygiene products, clean water, and toilets, while aid workers had not met demand.[4] Women described substituting old clothing or diapers for pads; one said a packet cost 45 shekels when the entire tent lacked even five shekels.[4] Improvised menstrual materials and prolonged use of unwashed clothing were associated with possible reproductive-health and skin risks.[4]

Restrictions on water, toilets, and menstrual products were documented after October 7, together with accounts of women taking norethisterone to delay menstruation and scavenging cloth, including tent material.[22] Access to reproductive-health supplies and services diminished or disappeared.[22] Women using intrauterine devices experienced bleeding and infections in unhygienic shelters, and an account dated October 30, 2023, reported no options for IUD removal in Gaza.[22]

Pregnancy and childbirth continued under severe constraints.[2] A 2024 estimate placed 52,000 pregnant women within the war-affected population and approximately 180 births each day, with most births lacking access to caesarean anaesthesia, water, sanitation, adequate nutrition, and postpartum care.[2] Thousands of women were reported to have delivered in unsanitary conditions, often without clean water or medical assistance, and some caesareans were performed without anaesthesia.[22] Medical reporting described a 25–30 percent increase in premature births and more than a doubling of placental-abruption cases, particularly in northern Gaza.[22]

Food shortages affected both pregnant women and household food distribution.[2] Nearly nine in ten women reported greater difficulty accessing food than men, while 84 percent said their families ate half or less of their prewar food intake.[2] Mothers frequently skipped meals to feed their children.[2] Later reporting cited nearly 11,000 pregnant women at risk of hunger and almost 17,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women expected to need urgent treatment for acute malnutrition in the following months.[23]

One account described a mother unable to obtain the medical milk recommended for her baby.[23] The baby reportedly died on May 4 weighing 2.8 kilograms, only slightly above her birth weight.[23] Hospital-based observations relayed in August 2025 indicated that 70–75 percent of approximately 300 women arriving daily at al-Awda Hospital had food or supplement shortages.[24] Doctors described increases in miscarriages, anemia, calcium and vitamin D deficiencies, low maternal and fetal weight, and impaired fetal movement; the hospital’s acting director estimated that more than 60,000 women were affected by food shortages.[24]

During the first seven months of 2025, more than 465 women gave birth outside hospitals, many without medical support.[25] Four hospitals and 23 clinics providing obstetric and newborn care in Gaza City were described as at imminent risk of closure, while southern facilities were already stretched beyond capacity.[25] In August, a field maternity hospital opened with capacity for caesarean sections and gynecological surgery, and reproductive-health kits were delivered with the intention of supporting more than 200,000 services.[25]

In January 2026, reported damage to medical facilities, displacement, and overcrowding continued to affect reproductive-health services during a ceasefire period.[26] Estimates placed more than 230,000 women and girls under restricted access to services, including approximately 15,000 pregnant women.[26] The same reporting described increased exposure to gender-based violence and exploitation, greater vulnerability, and a growing risk of child marriage.[26]

A qualitative study interviewed 23 bereaved parents or siblings of female combat-support soldiers killed while serving on October 7.[12] Three recurring themes emerged: lack of military information during the war’s first days, problems identifying bodies, and confusion and misinformation about casualties.[12] Interviewees described devastation, anger, insult, confusion, and a sense of betrayal by the military and state.[12]

A separate study used self-report questionnaires from 293 wives of reservists across Israel between April and June 2024.[13] More than 40 percent of participants reported significant depressive symptoms and approximately one quarter reported significant anxiety symptoms.[13] Prominent stressors included fear that a partner would be injured or killed, loneliness, difficulty maintaining contact, and concern that military service might cause psychological problems or changes in personality.[13]

Research also examined the gendered priorities applied to hostage releases.[5] A 2025 peer-reviewed study noted the prioritization of women in the November 2023 and January 2025 deals while abducted men remained captive.[5] Its analysis of a representative sample of 1,171 Jewish Israelis concerning the November deal found that hostile sexism predicted opposition to prioritizing women, whereas benevolent sexism predicted support, particularly for mothers.[5] Respondents’ gender played a smaller role, although benevolent sexism predicted a stronger protective bias among men.[5]

An eight-page 2025 article in Israel Studies Review examined women soldiers in war rooms on the Gaza front through questions about televised depictions of men in uniform and whether war is also understood as belonging to women.[27] Its accessible abstract did not provide detailed methods or findings.[27]

Public organizing included Mothers on the Front, a coalition launched by approximately 500 women in August 2025 to campaign for ending the war and returning the hostages.[6] Inspired by the Four Mothers movement that advocated Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, its launch included a march to a memorial for female soldiers killed at Nahal Oz.[6] Participants included bereaved relatives and women seeking a negotiated end to the war.[6]

The mission examining October 7 sexual violence found reasonable grounds to believe that rape or gang rape occurred around the Nova festival, on Road 232, and outside a shelter at Re’im.[7] It reviewed more than 5,000 photographs, approximately 50 hours of video, and interviews with 34 people, but did not interview survivors of sexual violence from the attacks.[7] It could not verify reported rape or genital mutilation at Nahal Oz, found some widely circulated Be’eri allegations unfounded, and said a full investigation was necessary to establish prevalence and attribution.[7] Its work was not a criminal investigation and did not attribute violations to specific armed groups; Hamas denied rape.[7]

Fatality statistics likewise require distinctions between dates and categories.[28] May 2024 reporting shifted from 9,500 women and 14,500 children among 34,735 reported deaths to 4,959 women and 7,797 children among 24,686 identified deaths, while the broader toll stood at 34,844.[28] These were not directly interchangeable counts, and documentation of identities remained ongoing.[28] A May 2025 list contained 10,328 adult women among 52,958 deaths, or 19.5 percent, but opaque revision and vetting processes and possible omissions limited interpretation.[8] An October 2025 account reported more than 67,000 deaths, approximately half women and children, without a separate female total or a civilian-combatant breakdown.[29]

Disputes also concern Israeli conduct toward Palestinian women.[30] A 2025 inquiry alleged intentional destruction of a fertility center and restrictions contributing to maternity deaths, characterizing some conduct as potentially crimes against humanity and genocidal acts; Israel rejected its findings and methodology and denied deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure.[30] A 2026 report described verified sexual violence against Palestinians, including seven women and one girl among victims across Gaza and the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria; the overall findings included rape against nine victims but did not identify all nine as female.[31] Separately, six Gaza women described alleged sexual exploitation linked to aid, and a prevention network recorded 18 allegations involving aid workers or associated people; documentation remained difficult.[32]