Wombs in the warzone: examining motherhood, childhood, and the ethics of witnessing violence in Gaza

This paper examines the acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza amid the ongoing IsraeliPalestinian conflict, with a focus on gendered and child-specific vulnerabilities. Drawing on recent data from UN agencies and insights from feminist and postcolonial scholarship, it reveals how the conflict disproportionately affects women and children through indiscriminate violence, forced displacement, food insecurity, and systemic oppression. The study critiques the failure of international humanitarian law to restrain state aggression and exposes the complicity of mainstream media—particularly in West and also in India – in legitimising dominant geopolitical narratives. Through an analysis of media silence, editorial bias, and the instrumentalisation of suffering, the paper highlights the erasure of subaltern voices and yearns for critical media literacy and sensibility. By foregrounding independent human rights reports and civilian testimonies, this research advocates for an ethical and decolonial engagement with conflict reporting and humanitarian backing. The findings reveal a stark disconnect between legal norms and geopolitical realities, and yearning for a sustained, justice-oriented global response.