Embodied Resistance: The Role of Palestinian Women in the 2023 Gaza Genocide

This paper examines the vital role of Palestinian women in resistance during the 2023 Gaza genocide, focusing on their embodied resilience in the face of colonial violence. Using post-colonial feminist perspectives, the study explores how women in Gaza transform their bodies into tools of defiance. Tactics include cutting their hair to adapt to harsh sanitary conditions, writing their children's names on their bodies during airstrikes, and covering themselves to avoid exposure amid bombings. The research also highlights women's efforts to create alternative food for their families during famine, develop sleeping methods in tents to resist heat, cold, insects, and diseases, and perform hard labor in the absence of husbands and amid family dispersion. Additionally, the study examines the profound psychological and physical toll on women due to the lack of hygiene supplies and other basic needs during the war. Through unstructured interviews following the oral history method and participant observation based on the author's experience as a war correspondent, this research sheds light on how Palestinian women embody resistance, becoming symbols of steadfastness in the struggle for autonomy. By focusing on the specific experiences of women in Gaza, the paper aims to contribute to the broader discourse on gendered resistance in colonized societies.