UN experts on Thursday accused Israel of carrying out “genocidal acts” and “sexual violence” against Palestinians during its ongoing war with Hamas.
In a new report, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said that Israeli crimes include the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities and using sexual violence as a war strategy.
Sexual Violence
The report examined a broad range of violations committed against Palestinian women, men, girls and boys across the Occupied Palestinian Territory since October 7, 2023.
It also included two days of public hearings in Geneva on 11-12 March, during which the commission listened to victims of sexual violence, lawyers, advocacy groups and others whose accounts were included in the report.
According to the report’s findings, Israel has used sexual and gender-based violence across the Occupied Palestinian Territory as “a strategy of war to dominate and destroy the Palestinian people.” These include forced public stripping and nudity, sexual harassment such as threats of rape, and sexual assault.
On this occasion, Chair of the Commission, Navi Pillay, said: “The evidence collected by the Commission reveals a deplorable increase in sexual and gender-based violence.”
Deliberate Acts
The report noted that these and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence were committed “either under explicit orders or with implicit encouragement by Israel’s top civilian and military leadership.”
On this matter, Pillay said: “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.”
Accountability Measures
The report pointed to a lack of accountability measures to convict perpetrators. In the light of this, Pillay said: “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.”
The findings of the report could be used by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) or in other jurisdictions to try to hold the perpetrators accountable and bring justice to victims and their relatives, according to the Associated Press (AP).
“In this context, accountability through the International Criminal Court and national courts, through their domestic law or exercising universal jurisdiction, is essential if the rule of law is to be upheld and victims awarded justice,” Pillay noted.
Targeting Healthcare Facilities
Israeli forces have targeted sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities across Gaza in a systematic way, according to the report. This included preventing the delivery of necessary medication and equipment to ensure safe pregnancies, deliveries and post-partum and neonatal care.
These conditions imposed by the Israeli authorities have led to the death of women and girls from pregnancy and childbirth complications. The report said that these acts amount to the crime against humanity of extermination.
Genocidal Acts
The report concluded that Israel has committed genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza. “Israeli authorities have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare, amounting to two categories of genocidal acts in the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention,” it said.
In the light of this, Pillay said: “These violations have not only caused severe immediate physical and mental harm and suffering to women and girls, but irreversible long-term effects on the mental health and reproductive and fertility prospects of Palestinians as a group.”
Israeli Rejection
In response to the report findings, Israel’s mission in Geneva rejected the allegations and accused the commission of relying on “second-hand, single, uncorroborated sources,” according to AP.
Similarly, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rejected the report’s findings, accusing the commission of being “biased and antisemitic.”
The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. The Gaza war has so far claimed the lives of more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
