MIDDLE EAST- UN Women reiterated its call for a lasting and just peace that upholds the rights, safety, and dignity of all women and girls across the region across the wider region.

On 28 February 2026, a reported strike on a primary school in Minab, Iran, killed 168 girls on the first day of the escalation. Since then, at least 204 women have been killed in Iran and 102 women in Lebanon before the intense bombardment on 8 April, according to national health authorities.

Additional female casualties have been reported in Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Palestine, and the United Arab Emirates.

Millions of women and girls have been displaced, including up to 1.6 million in Iran and 620,000 in Lebanon. Displacement is increasing exposure to protection risks in overcrowded conditions, while restricting access to healthcare, protection services, and livelihoods, and deepening unpaid care burdens.

The destruction of civilian infrastructure is limiting access to shelter, water and essential services. Even before escalation, 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and 70,000 in Lebanon required maternal care.

Damage to health systems is worsening access. Across five countries, 24 million women face food insecurity, including 790,000 in Gaza. Women’s rights groups face shrinking space and insecurity.

UN Women is scaling up protection, livelihoods support and coordination and ensuring women’s voices inform response and recovery efforts.

It called for de-escalation, protection of civilians, unimpeded humanitarian access, gender-responsive aid and for the two-week ceasefire to serve as the basis for a broader and lasting peace.