Reem Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said the number of women and children killed in Israeli bombing in Gaza “has surpassed anything we have seen in recent conflicts”.

People working on the ground in Gaza have “run out of words to describe the unspeakable level of suffering and horrors,” she told Al Jazeera.

“Within this hell, being a Palestinian woman or a child has really meant being stripped of any humanity, dignity, safety or any special considerations that would usually be given to women or children in times of peace or conflict,” she added.