Growing up amid genocide: Gaza’s girls navigate puberty under siege and scarcity

A Palestinian girl sits amid debris at a UN school where displaced people were taking shelter, after it was hit by Israeli strikes, at Zeitoun in Gaza City on 1 October 2025 (Ebrahim Hajjaj/Reuters)

Oct. 4, 2025 - As Israeli air strikes pound their neighbourhoods, young girls in Gaza shelter from the bombs while facing another, quieter upheaval of their own: puberty.

Many girls in the besieged enclave are entering puberty, a time of profound physical and emotional change that would, in normal circumstances, be eased by parental guidance and access to basic resources.

But nearly two years of Israeli genocide have left families unable to provide that support, while menstrual products, clean water and private bathrooms are largely out of reach.

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