Inside displacement camps across Gaza, thousands of Palestinian women are rebuilding their lives amid loss, hunger and heavy responsibility after losing their husbands in the Israeli war on the enclave.
Among them are Duaa Al-Saudi and Shorouq Abu Sukran, who now carry burdens that once belonged to entire families.
One is raising four children alone after her husband was killed. The other lost both her husband and her legs in separate Israeli attacks and now relies on her elderly mother for daily care.
Their experiences reflect a wider reality across Gaza, where widows are left to secure food, medicine, shelter and schooling for their children as living conditions collapse and humanitarian aid dwindles.
U.N. Women estimates that more than 16,000 women in Gaza had lost their husbands by October 2025, while one in seven households is now headed by a woman during the war.
Repeated displacement, overcrowded shelters, disease outbreaks and severe shortages of water and medicine have deepened the suffering of widows and their families, according to U.N. agencies and relief organizations.
Al-Saudi now lives with her children in a displacement camp after losing her husband, who had been the family’s only source of income.
“We receive nothing except aid. There is no stable financial support for orphans or widows,” she told Anadolu Agency (AA).
She said even basic food has become difficult to obtain, especially fruit and vegetables.
“If I can buy two apples, I divide them among my children,” she said.
Before her husband was killed, he provided for every aspect of the family’s life. Now, she says, even school notebooks have become a burden she cannot always afford.
“One of my sons needs surgery, treatment and special food, but I cannot provide any of it,” Al-Saudi said.
She described carrying the responsibility of four children alone while struggling to survive in displacement camps.
Appealing to the international community, she urged the world not to forget Gaza’s widows and orphans.
“The responsibilities have become greater than we can bear,” she said.
For Abu Sukran, the war left wounds far beyond displacement.
She was severely injured in an Israeli strike that hit her home on Aug. 31, 2024, killing several people inside while she survived alongside her son.
“I lost my legs in the bombing,” she told AA. “The pain grows worse every day to the point that I can no longer sleep, despite taking strong painkillers.”
She said her deteriorating condition could force doctors to amputate what remains of one of her legs.
Abu Sukran said she can no longer move independently or manage her daily needs.
“My mother takes care of everything for me,” she said.
Before her injury, she had already lost her husband in an Israeli attack while they were walking together on Al-Wahda Street in Gaza City.
“My husband was killed before my eyes,” she said. “Then my injury came and doubled my suffering.”
Earlier this month, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israel was preventing 17,000 Palestinians approved for medical treatment abroad from traveling, warning that delays were increasing deaths among patients awaiting care.
Abu Sukran said widows in Gaza continue to suffer without enough support or attention.
“We are not just images or video clips people watch and then move on from,” she said. “We have the right to live, to receive treatment and to have the basic necessities of life.”
She called for greater support for widows and their children, particularly young women who lost their husbands during the war.
Gaza’s health care system has been devastated by the war, which destroyed hospitals and medical infrastructure and created severe shortages of medicine, fuel and supplies.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 1,029 Palestinians have been killed and 3,294 injured in near-daily Israeli attacks in violation of a cease-fire in place since Oct. 10, 2025.
The cease-fire followed more than two years of war that killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, wounded more than 173,000 and devastated about 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure.
