Geneva: The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, confirmed Thursday that Israeli occupation has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive, and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians.
According to Kuwait News Agency, this is part of a broader strategy of war aimed at dominating and destroying the Palestinian people. The Commission's latest report, titled "More than a human can bear: Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since October 2023," documents a wide range of violations perpetrated across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including acts constituting genocide under international law.
"The evidence collected by the Commission reveals a deplorable increase in sexual and gender-based violence," said Chair of the Commission Navi Pillay. "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," she added.
Pillay reported that the commission detailed how Israeli occupation forces have systematically destroyed sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities across Gaza, including through direct attacks on maternity wards and Gaza's largest in-vitro fertility clinic. Commissioner Pillay stressed that these violations have caused severe immediate physical and mental harm and suffering to women and girls, as well as irreversible long-term effects on the mental health and reproductive and fertility prospects of Palestinians as a group.
The report also details how sexual and gender-based violence, ranging from forced public stripping, sexual harassment, and threats of rape to direct sexual assaults, has become a systematic tool of repression used by Israeli occupation forces. The commission confirmed that these crimes had been committed under both explicit orders and implicit encouragement from Israeli occupation's political and military leadership.
"The exculpatory statements and actions by Israeli leaders and the lack of effectiveness shown by the military justice system to prosecute cases and convict perpetrators send a clear message to members of the Israeli Security Forces that they can continue committing such acts without fear of accountability," said Pillay. She underscored the need for accountability through the International Criminal Court and national courts exercising universal jurisdiction to uphold the rule of law and deliver justice to victims.
The Commission also highlighted the impunity surrounding sexual and gender-based crimes committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, noting that the absence of legal accountability has fueled further attacks aimed at instilling fear in the Palestinian community and forcing them from their lands. The report found that Israeli occupation forces have intentionally targeted women and girls, including maternity patients, leading to a growing number of female fatalities in Gaza. These actions constitute crimes against humanity, including murder and willful killing.
It was also found that these acts amount to two categories of genocidal crimes under the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention: the deliberate infliction of conditions designed to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians and the imposition of measures intended to prevent births within the group. These findings followed two days of public hearings in Geneva on March 11-12, which included testimony from victims, medical personnel, civil society representatives, academics, and legal experts.