Gazan women and girls have been facing “deepening dehumanisation” due to Israel’s attacks, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Thursday said, calling for a cease-fire to “restore dignity”, Anadolu reports.

Describing “what it is like to be a girl or a woman in Gaza,” Philippe Lazzarini said on X: “Women & girls can often spend months without taking a shower, going through several menstrual cycles without washing up.”

These women have had to “cut their hair very short due to lice, a lack of shampoo, not enough water or combs,” with some women wearing the same headscarf for the past 10 months, he lamented.

The official added that many of them reported feeling unsafe and deprived of privacy and dignity in overcrowded shelters and displacement sites, often skipping the toilet and avoiding food or water to cope.

He underlined that these women told UNRWA teams that “they are struggling to see themselves as women.”

Lazzarini criticised the situation: “This is another aspect of the deepening dehumanisation of this war,” as he quoted one of them as saying: “I don’t feel I’m a woman anymore.”