For Gaza’s women, the hardships of life in the territory’s sprawling tent camps are compounded by the daily humiliation of never having privacy.
Women displaced from their homes by Israel’s ongoing bombardment struggle to dress modestly while crowded into tents with extended family members, including men, and with strangers only steps away in neighbouring tents.
Alaa Hamami has dealt with the modesty issue by constantly wearing her prayer shawl, a cloth that covers her head and upper body.
“Our whole lives have become prayer clothes, even to the market we wear it,” said the young mother of three. “Dignity is gone.”
Normally, she would wear the shawl only when performing her daily Muslim prayers. But with so many men around, she keeps it on all the time, even when sleeping – just in case an Israeli attack hits nearby in the night and she has to flee quickly, she said.
Israel’s war on Gaza has driven more than 90 percent of its 2.3 million population from their homes. Hundreds of thousands now live in squalid tent camps packed close together over large areas – where sewage runs into the streets and food and water are hard to obtain.
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Access to toilets and hygiene products is also limited, and many women now cut up sheets or old clothes to use as sanitary pads.
Wafaa Nasrallah, a displaced mother of two, says life in the camps makes even the simplest needs difficult, and she cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. She has tried using pieces of cloth and even nappies, but they have also increased in price.
For a toilet, Nasrallah uses a hole in the ground, surrounded by blankets propped up by sticks.
These makeshift toilets must also be shared with dozens of other people in the camps.
As winter sets in, the challenges grow and women feel constantly exposed. Many say they have to choose between buying pads and buying food and water.
The United Nations says more than 690,000 women and girls in Gaza require menstrual hygiene products, as well as clean water and toilets, as stocks of hygiene kits have run out and prices are exorbitant.
But aid workers have been unable to meet demand, with supplies piling up at border crossings, and Israel continuing to block aid and supplies from entering the besieged and battered Strip.
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