UN Women estimates that 86,290 households in the Gaza Strip are headed by women, representing about a quarter of all families in the territory. This figure has nearly doubled since before October 2023. The report, published on September 8, 2026, indicates that two-thirds of these families require urgent cash assistance, at a time when the humanitarian response is facing funding shortages and access difficulties. In Deir al-Balah, Umm Ahmad al-Ghandour supports seven family members after her husband was killed during the war. “Their father was killed in the war, and I’ve taken on the roles of both mother and father,” she told Euronews. Since his death, she has had to manage the family’s needs and care for her children in what she describes as dire economic circumstances.
Testimonies gathered by Euronews from the central Gaza Strip reveal how the responsibility of providing food and medical treatment intertwines with caring for and educating children. Among the families who have lost their breadwinners are mothers raising children with disabilities, and a young girl who has taken over the responsibility of caring for her family after the death of both her parents. The UN estimate includes, in addition to widows, women whose husbands are missing, detained, seriously injured, or forcibly disappeared. The figure was calculated by applying a 23% threshold, recorded in a needs assessment survey at the end of 2025, to the estimated number of households, according to the report’s methodology.
The data shows that 68% of female-headed households reported that their shelter needs were not being met, compared to 55% of male-headed households. Their homes were also more likely to be damaged or destroyed, and they were displaced an average of eight times since October 2023, compared to seven times for male-headed households.
