NEW YORK: The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, stressed the need for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip “so that every woman and girl there can regain some of her dignity.”

Lazzarini added in a post on X that “women and girls can often spend months without taking a shower, going through several menstrual cycles without washing up.”

“They have to cut their hair very short due to lice, lack of shampoo, not enough water or combs,” he added.

Lazzarini continued “many said they don’t feel safe, have no privacy or dignity in overcrowded shelters and displacement sites. They skip going to the toilet and therefore avoid eating or drinking water.”

He pointed out that some women have been wearing the same headscarf for 10 months, and that they “struggle to see themselves as women.”

“Women in Gaza are telling our teams they are struggling to see themselves as women. One woman said: ‘I don’t feel I’m a woman anymore’. This is anot
her aspect of the deepening dehumanization of this war,” Lazzarini noted.

“A ceasefire for every girl and woman in Gaza also to restore some of their dignity,” he concluded.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA