A UN Committee Has Found Israel Has Been Systematically Committing Sexual Violence Against Palestinians
Israeli forces have been systematically committing sexual violence “as a strategy of war for Israel to dominate and destroy the Palestinian people.”
A UN special committee has found that Israel is systematically using sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians and committing “genocidal acts” against Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank by destroying sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities.
The report published on March 14 found Israeli forces have been systematically using rape, forced nudity and sexualized torture against Palestinian women, men and children, “as a strategy of war for Israel to dominate and destroy the Palestinian people” since Oct. 7, 2023.
It documented several videos and photos of Israeli soldiers searching homes in the Gaza Strip, deliberately humiliating and mocking Palestinian women based on their gender and ethnicity.
It also found cases of gender-based violence against women including forcing them to strip or remove their veils in public, invasive and humiliating searches in front of male soldiers, as well as sexual harassment including rape threats.
It found Israel’s top leadership gave explicit orders or implicitly encouraged soldiers to commit other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, including rape and violence to the genitals.
“There is no escape from the conclusion that Israel has employed sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians to terrorize them and perpetuate a system of oppression that undermines their right to self-determination,” the commission chair said.
The report also found Israel has systematically destroyed sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities across Gaza, while also imposing a siege and blocking humanitarian aid such as medication and equipment to ensure safe pregnancies, deliveries and post-partum and neonatal care.
It concluded Israel had committed the crime against humanity of extermination by denying women and girls access to reproductive healthcare, leading to their deaths from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.
It said Israeli authorities have now destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza through destroying sexual and reproductive healthcare, which amount to two categories of genocidal acts.
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