Frontline KIIs also emphasized that women without male relatives, widows, elderly women, or those caring for children are systematically excluded from aid access, leaving entire households without food. A grandmother caring for orphaned children in Gaza explained: “We depend entirely on aid, but most days we come back with nothing.” Humanitarian staff described how women “walk for hours, wait for three or four more, and still return empty-handed.” One woman’s testimony confirmed: “For three days I fed my children only hot water with sugar. I waited in line but fainted before my turn…we came back with nothing.” Many women report that they no longer attempt distributions because “it is survival of the strongest.” Militarized food distribution In 2025, the Israeli military replaced UN-coordinated, community-based aid distribution with the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which distributes aid through a handful of large, militarized distribution hubs.34 Aid access points shrunk from roughly 400 during the temporary ceasefire to four heavily controlled sites.35 This shift forced civilians, including large numbers of women and children, to travel long distances into overcrowded zones amid active hostilities to try to obtain food.36 UN human rights experts publicly condemned the GHF distribution plan, urging Israel to restore the UN humanitarian system to stave off starvation and to allow unimpeded relief by impartial humanitarian actors.37 Reports have described that GHF distribution points have become “death traps”38 and, in July and August 2025, OCHA documented killings and injuries of people seeking aid at or near militarized distribution points and along approach routes.39 The Guardian’s visual investigation identified a sustained pattern of gunfire around distribution sites over a 48-day period, reporting at least 1,373 people killed and more than 2,000 injured while attempting to access food, with 859 deaths occurring near sites operated by the GHF.40 Women and girls are not immune from these dangers. Distribution points are often overcrowded and unruly environments which women, especially those with children or elderly in tow, find difficult or unsafe to navigate.41 A so-called “women-only day” at one GHF distribution site ended in tragedy, when women were pepper sprayed, shot, and killed while trying to collect food.42 A UN protection expert warns: “Militarized distributions create serious barriers for women; vulnerable women including widows, elderly, and women with disabilities cannot physically or safely reach these points.” Because of these barriers, women’s testimonies often described the conundrum of relying on male relatives, including children, to seek food from militarized distribution centers. A young widow vividly described this fear: “One of my daily nightmares is when my little boys go out to search for food or water. Sometimes they do not return until the next day. I lose my mind with fear, thinking something terrible has happened, that they were bombed, shot, or lost among the chaos. I go searching for them in hospitals, streets, distribution places, and even mortuaries. This terror eats me alive. The so-called distribution points, even those set up by international organizations, have become graveyards. People walk for hours only to face gunfire and chaos or to return empty handed. My children come back injured from the pushing, sometimes burned by spilled pots of hot food.” 13