(The Post News)– The United Nations (UN) has issued a strongly worded report accusing Israel of committing mass sexual and gender violence against the Palestinians and of engaging in acts of genocide by destroying maternal and reproductive healthcare facilities systematically. The accusations were made in a UN Human Rights Council-mandated report that sets out the findings of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The report, which deals with instances in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, catalogues alleged offences including rape, sexual harassment, and assault of Palestinians’ reproductive organs. The commission further maintains that Israel’s actions in Gaza, specifically the destruction of maternity wards and a fertility clinic, could be interpreted as genocidal under international law.
The chair of the commission, former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, stated the evidence recorded an abrupt increase in sexual and gender-based violence, which she claimed was being used by Israeli forces to terrorise Palestinians and uphold an oppressive regime. Testimony from victims and witnesses and photographic evidence have supported these claims. Pillay argued that this violence had penetrated so deep that it could no longer be viewed as isolated cases but as a trend of abuse.
The commission’s most shocking charge is that of the destruction of the Al-Basma IVF Centre in Gaza City, which the commission says was the victim of a deliberate Israeli attack that reduced some 4,000 embryos and 1,000 sperm samples to ashes. The commission suggests that this is all part of a policy aimed at reducing the number of Palestinians being born, and by this means, some would say, an act of genocide according to the terms of the Genocide Convention and Rome Statute.
The Israeli government has flatly rejected these allegations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the report as “unfounded” and denounced the UN Human Rights Council as an “antisemitic, terrorist-supporting” body. Israel’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva labelled the report biased and devoid of credibility and reiterated that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) strictly prohibit such conduct.
As Israel has been embracing the mass destruction of Gaza, where over 48,000 have perished since hostilities escalated in October 2023, it maintains that it is an even-handed reaction to the Hamas attack, in which 1,200 were killed and 251 taken hostage. Israel has also pointed out that the IDF operates to international standards of law and undertakes investigations into accusations of misconduct.
The UN report also raises the alarm over the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza, the destruction of health, sanitation, and food systems, and the displacement of the majority of its population. Human rights organizations have long been warning that these conditions continue to extend the Palestinians’ ordeal, particularly children and women. As things go on, the world is still in disagreement regarding the issue, with the UN and most human rights groups demanding accountability of all the parties involved in the conflict.
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