Reports of sexual violence against Palestinian women

[Scirocco]

In the Al-Shifa hospital thread, there have been several reports of Palestinian women having been sexually assaulted and raped.

All sexual assault is wrong and must be investigated and condemned.

Given the serious nature of these reports, I thought I'd create a separate thread in case anyone wants to discuss it here.

Thanks @Scirocco for the thread.

A Palestinian woman describes the awful experiences they are enduring. It's a hard listen.

www.instagram.com/reel/C44NpZboDX_/?igsh=aXo0NWY2c2ZvZW1t

How bloody awful. Not surprising, but still grotesque.

There's nothing they wouldn't stoop to it would seem.

It's not surprising when you let an army rampage without any chance of repercussions or attempt at adherence to international law. I think that Israel will become some sort of pariah state.

Very concerning that the Al Shifa courtyard where journalists vans and equipment were sheltering was cleared on day ! - destroying equipment and driving journalists out

Am I surprised by this? Sadly no. Rape as a weapon of war is well documented throughout history. It was a question of time before we heard about rapes in Gaza.
The legacy of the horrors inflicted by the IDF on the Palestinians is going to reach far into the future. The Israeli government will reap what they have sown for a very long time. I do feel for the Israeli people whose government has compromised their safety. Violence begets violence.
The Holy Land is a place of hatred at the moment. I despair.

www.instagram.com/p/C45Zc-2M7Wg/?igsh=MWh1b2tkd2IybG5maw==

Thanks op. I just left a similar comment in the rape related thread

I’ve been watching the reports on instagram by extremely traumatised people. How far does this have to go before it stops? I can’t believe this is happening while they are planning developments on the other side!

I have been seeing the testimonies of traumatised women who have left Al shifa hospital. Most of the men were kidnapped or killed. Women brutalised.
They said there are bodies in the streets and no news reporters to even show the world what is happening
All I feel now is anger and rage. I don't see anymore how there can be peace. After a hundred thousand dead or injured and a entire generation of traumatised children.
Most of Gaza has been destroyed. And the world watched it happen.

I agree with you @Parkingt111 one of the testimonies I watched a woman retells how “…the occupation forced us to fast through the night…” that means that in addition to fasting (no food or water during the day for Ramadan) they are enduring that at night time too. I imagine any food or water was taken from them when they were forcibly removed from their houses. Just pure disgust at the army choosing to do and I am aghast at settlers sat on boarders spewing venom. Despite the world allegedly watching them they aren’t even trying to hide it.

Source is Israeli, so the main tone is "how DARE they claim our moral, brave soldiers ...?" - but it is an interesting piece nonetheless.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-793420

Interesting that the article mentions the allegation is of systematic sexual abuse. That's a term with legal implications...

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/03/24/722420/Palestine-Israel-al-Shifa-Hospital-raid-raping-killing-women-displaced

A link to Jamila al-Hissi's interview.

I see a notable absence of certain posters on this thread. No doubt getting their arguments ready.

I'm a Zionist, TakeMe2Insanity, but I'm not a monster or an idiot. Men use the cover of war to rape women, always. It's vile.

Last year when female detainees were released from Israeli prisons, there were allegations of sexual assault, and of women being removed from Gaza and held in these prisons being particularly badly abused. The problem is finding a way to investigate these crimes, either in Israeli prisons, or those that, as a PP writes, happen under cover of war. I hope there are agencies and professionals in Gaza who may be able to put together reports and evidence and get the information out to relevant bodies.

The news reporters have been killed or removed by and large. The reporters’ equipment vans at Al Shifa where terrible things have been happening were destroyed. There won’t be the chance to get forensic evidence from dead women’s bodies. Israel won’t allow people in to find out.

UN special rapporteurs decry underreporting of sexual violence against Palestinians

As accounts of sexual violence against Palestinian women in Gaza are coming out, two women special rapporteurs of the UN say the issue is underreported and undervalued.

Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said in a post on X that it is “abhorrent” that reports of rape by Israeli forces keep coming out without any consequences.

“Rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide! It must stop!”

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said, “I lost count of how many renowned journalists interviewed me on the alleged mistreatment of/sexual abuse against Palestinian women by Israeli forces, and never published any article on this”.

This issue of sexual violence, the way it aligns with Israel’s broader strategy of wanton destruction, displacement and terrorism in Gaza, the total neglect and absence any of coverage of it in the international media, is far more systemic than just ‘men…’.

I’m not surprised by these reports, which doesn’t take away from my anger and disgust. Always in these situations, grim little men must get their power kicks by raping and sexually abusing mostly women. It is they who have lost their dignity. When they go home they won’t be able to forget who they were when they were in Gaza, I wish their shame weighs them down for the rest of their lives.

The longer this war goes on the harder it will be for everyone involved to recover.

I am sure when it is over we will learn of many more horrors.

When they go home they won’t be able to forget who they were when they were in Gaza, I wish their shame weighs them down for the rest of their lives

Yes, it will cost them their souls. Imagine being the mother of an 18 year old getting incited to become a coward and a rapist by peer pressure in the ‘Most Moral Army’.

Or maybe a lot of the parents are like the parents of the Israeli gang rapers on holiday in Cyprus , who cheered their darling entitled boys home when they arrived back in Israel, having escaped conviction by the Cyprus court for what they’d done, while the raped girl was put in prison instead.

There's just so much that is coming out right now that's happened in the past few months so God only knows what's going to emerge in another few more months. And that's if it does as there's barely anyone, if not, no one to report and document these heinous crimes. What's more, nothing is being done to stop it.

It's awful. You'd think after the appalling scenes on Oct 7th the IDF would refrain from doing this, but they've gone down exactly the same path as Hamas.

Two sets of terrorists separated by a different flag. There's no excuse for this. None.