UNITED NATIONS   -   Women and children account for roughly 70 per cent of people slaughtered in Israel’s deadly attack on Gaza, with two mothers killed every hour over the past 100 days when the hostilities erupted, ac­cording to a new report from UN Women, a global champi­on for gender equality. The re­port examines the gendered impact of the conflict, which has left more than 23,000 Palestinians dead, according to Gazan health authorities, about 16,000 of whom are women or children. “We have seen evidenced once more that women and children are the first victims of con­flict and that our duty to seek peace is a duty to them. We are failing them,” UN Women Executive Director Sima Ba­hous said in a statement is­sued alongside the report. “That failure, and the gener­ational trauma inflicted on the Palestinian people over these 100 days and counting, will haunt all of us for gener­ations to come,” she warned. UN Women also reiterat­ed deep concern over the ac­counts of unconscionable vio­lence and other gender-based violence during the Hamas-led attacks against Israel on 7 October that sparked the con­flict. The agency called for ac­countability, justice and sup­port for all those affected and for the immediate and uncon­ditional release of all hostag­es. UN Women said the Gaza conflict “is fundamentally a protection crisis for women” at a time when nowhere in the enclave is safe. Of the 1.9 million people now displaced, close to a million are women and girls, and the “impossible decisions” they have to make regarding whether to evacu­ate – when and how as well as where to go – “are entrenched with gender-differentiated fears and experiences”, giv­en risks of attacks and ha­rassment while on the move. UN Women further estimat­ed that at least 3,000 wom­en may have become widows and heads of households, and at least 10,000 children may now be fatherless. As a re­sult, more women fear fam­ilies will resort to desperate coping mechanisms such as early marriage. Meanwhile, women’s rights organizations continue to operate amidst the crisis. In November, UN Women conducted a rapid survey of 12 women-led orga­nizations and one youth-led group which found that most – 83 per cent – were at least partially operating, focused mainly on the emergency re­sponse. However, less than one per cent of funding un­der the 2023 Flash Appeal for Gaza has directly gone to women’s groups.