More than 38,000 women and girls were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and December 2025 − an average of at least 47 each day, said a report by UN Women released on Friday.
The figure is more than half of the 72,300 people killed during Israel's military offensive in Gaza, according to the death toll compiled by Palestinian health authorities.
“Women and girls accounted for a proportion of deaths far higher than those observed in previous conflicts in Gaza,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women's humanitarian action chief.
“They were individuals with lives and with dreams. On top of a staggering death toll, nearly 11,000 women and girls in Gaza have sustained injuries so devastating that they survive only with lifelong disabilities,” she added.
The UN agency expressed concern that the killing of women and girls has continued since an October ceasefire, though it could not provide numbers due to a lack of gender-aggregated data.
Gaza health authorities said another 760 people had been killed by Israel since a ceasefire took hold on October 10.
The ceasefire halted two years of full-scale war but left Israeli troops in control of a depopulated zone that makes up more than half of Gaza, with Hamas remaining in power in the rest of the coastal strip. Palestinian militants have killed four Israeli soldiers during the truce.
Israel and Hamas have traded blame for ceasefire violations. Israel says it aims to thwart attacks by Hamas and other militant factions.
The UN children's agency Unicef said on Friday children continue to be killed and injured at an alarming rate in Gaza, with at least 214 reported dead in the past six months, post-ceasefire.
Around one million women and girls are displaced in Gaza, UN Women said.
“Extensive damage to infrastructure has made it almost impossible for women and girls in Gaza to access basic needs, like health care,” Ms Calltorp said.
More than 500,000 women lack access to essential services, including post and antenatal care, and management of sexually transmitted infections, World Health Organisation figures show.
