“More than a human can bear”: Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since October 2023
“More than a human can bear”: Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since October 2023
VI. Israel’s Systematic Use of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence
A. Masculinity, Nationalism, and Militarization
“Shall he make our sister into a whore? 9208 brings the honour back to the people of Israel.”
— Graffiti by Israeli soldiers in Beit Lahia, Gaza (see para. 77)
Women’s bodies and sexuality are often perceived as linked with the dignity of the nation and other negative gender stereotyping, such as the collective’s honour and emasculation. Several experts have noted that allegations of sexual violence against Israeli women on 7 October 2023 have resulted in attempts to rebuild Israeli national masculinity through aggression and in retaliation for the attacks carried out by the military wing of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.
Israeli officials have used sexual violence committed against Israeli women on 7 October to mobilize support for the ISF military operations in the Gaza Strip and continue the war, referring to Hamas as “a rapist regime” that has weaponized sexual violence as a means of terrorizing the Israeli population while “the international community remains silent.” This message has been amplified and circulated by the ISF in videos of detained Palestinian males allegedly confessing to acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence during the 7 October attacks (see section Sexual, Reproductive, and Other Gender-Based Violence in Detention, para. 123).
The Commission’s investigation shows that members of the ISF have been impacted by such messages. During the mistreatment of Palestinians in detention, some members of the ISF referenced the crimes committed on 7 October in Israel. In one illustrative example, the Commission examined a photo taken following the ground invasion in Gaza that depicts an Israeli soldier standing next to a wall in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, which displays graffiti in Hebrew reading, “Shall he make our sister into a whore?” The graffiti refers to the story of Dinah in the biblical book of Genesis, who was abducted and raped. On learning about her rape, her brothers reacted strongly by engaging in a mass killing of all the men of the city. The story is commonly interpreted to indicate that injury by others to a woman's body should be seen within the context of male honour and revenge, her body and mind belonging not only to the woman but also to the male-controlled collective. Hence, sexual violence committed against Israeli women is seen as an affront against the male-dominated collective, implying that it calls for a similar revenge to the one sought for Dinah. Next to this question about Dinah, the following text was written: “9208 brings the honour back to the people of Israel.” This additional text further emphasizes that some members of the ISF believe that the assault on Israeli women harmed a collective honour that must be avenged. The numbers 9208 refer to the 9208th Infantry Battalion of the 12th Infantry Brigade of the 252nd Division, which was the lead ISF division operating in the northern Gaza Strip from the direction of Beit Hanoun on 27 October 2023.
These examples should also be considered against the broader context of the sharp increase in sexual violence against Palestinian women and men described below, seemingly fueled by a similar desire to retaliate. The Commission documented multiple incidents corroborated through victim and witness statements and verified photos and video footage. Sexual and gender-based violence is by no means a new element of the Israeli occupation. The Commission has reported on such issues before. However, the Commission notes that Israeli soldiers’ aggression and violence increasingly includes sexual acts intended to “feminize” or shame, not only the victim but the Palestinian community as a whole, and an increasing trend to photograph or film these acts. Such acts have a clear link with entrenched gender stereotypes that continue to be intentionally used in attempts to break the sense of community and harm social cohesion, whether the victim is male or female. Previous reports by accountability mechanisms established by the Human Rights Council to investigate violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory did not document a similar pattern of sexual and gender-based violence.
B. Sexual Harassment and Public Shaming of Palestinian Women
“You sons of bitches, we came here to fuck you, you and your mothers, you bitches. You ugly Arab, we will burn you alive, you dogs.”
— Writings left by members of the ISF in a women’s shelter in Gaza
Since the start of the hostilities, Palestinian women in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have been increasingly subjected to online harassment and smear campaigns by Israeli officials and soldiers, including by doxing, a practice in which private information about a person is shared online by others, with the intention to humiliate and isolate the victim. The Commission observes that such incidents of abuse have direct or implicit links to the events of 7 October 2023, impacting Palestinian society as a whole.
The Commission documented several videos and photos, recorded by Israeli soldiers and posted online, depicting them searching homes in the Gaza Strip, deliberately humiliating and mocking Palestinian women based on their gender and ethnicity. The videos and photos, most of which were originally published in ISF soldiers’ private Instagram or X accounts, were later widely reposted on social media. In one case, a video shows a soldier filming himself while going through underwear and other private belongings in a house in the Gaza Strip, directing gendered and sexualized insults to Palestinian women, stating: “I've always said Arabs [female pronouns used] are the biggest sluts out there … There you go, here are the sets [of lingerie] here, inside, another new one in the package, they haven’t opened it yet, look at these sets, who wants elastic bodysuits?”
In a second video, an ISF soldier is filming himself describing how when searching the premises for weapons, the soldiers had found money and lingerie: “Two or three drawers stuffed with the most exotic lingerie that you can imagine, just piles, loads of it, in every single house. Unbelievable. These naughty naughty Gazans.” In a third case, an ISF soldier published a photo on a dating application depicting himself posing in front of a collection of Palestinian women’s underwear. The Commission found that many of the original videos and photos had been removed from the public domain, and the social media accounts of these Israeli soldiers had been either closed or set to private.
The Commission notes that the videos and photos show a clear gender and racial bias by the perpetrators, who intentionally target Palestinian women and attempt to humiliate and degrade them publicly. Moreover, from the perspective of Palestinian culture, publication of these images is potentially extremely harmful, carrying serious implications for the women whose private possessions are publicly exposed.
The Commission also documented a deliberate attack in mid-November 2023 on a women’s rights centre working with survivors of gender-based violence in Gaza City. The attack against the centre appeared to have a clear gendered dimension, with soldiers leaving gendered and sexualised insults directed against the Palestinian women in graffiti in Hebrew on the walls of the centre, for example: “You sons of bitches, we came here to fuck you, you and your mothers, you bitches” and “The dirty pussies of your prostitutes, you ugly Arab, you ugly, you sons of bitches, we will burn you alive, you dogs.”
On the first day of the mass arrests on 7 December 2023, the ISF official spokesman Daniel Hagari stated that the ISF and the General Security Service had arrested and interrogated hundreds of suspected terrorists. The ISF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus told CNN that the men in the photos were “Hamas members and suspect Hamas members” who were detained “without clothes in order to make sure they’re not carrying explosives.” On 8 December 2023, in an interview with CNN, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy stated that the residents of the areas subjected to the ISF operations were ordered to evacuate their neighbourhoods. “Let’s remember that these are military-age men that were found in areas that civilians were supposed to have evacuated over a month ago.”
The Commission documented three particularly egregious cases of sexual and gender-based violence during arrest and detention that were filmed and disseminated online by soldiers. One case involved a video depicting severe mistreatment and abuse of male detainees. The video was posted on X and Telegram by Israeli soldiers. The Commission geolocated it to Hebron, in the West Bank, noting it was filmed on 31 October 2023. In the footage, six men are seen blindfolded, undressed and lying on the ground. Two of the men are completely naked with their genitals exposed. The Commission documented conflicting information regarding the reasons for the men’s capture, with the ISF claiming they were Hamas militants and other sources stating that they were workers from Gaza. One of the naked men appears to be unconscious or lifeless, while the other is yelling in pain before being pushed to the ground. A soldier is seen stepping on the face of one man who is wearing only trousers with his hands and feet tied. The man is then pulled by his legs, while yelling in pain. According to a media report, the ISF stated that the conduct of the soldiers was serious and not in line with the army's orders and that the case was under investigation. The Commission was unable to find any information regarding the outcome of the investigation.
In the second case, on 24 December 2023, an Israeli reservist soldier posted photos on his Instagram account, depicting an Israeli soldier standing in front of a Palestinian man sitting on a chair with his hands tied behind his back with what appears to be black plastic straps. The Palestinian man is undressed, wearing only black boxer shorts, and has a five-centimetre cut on his right thigh that is bleeding, and traces of blood are seen on his forehead and right arm. The Commission geolocated the video and found that it was taken in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City during a ground incursion. The ISF reportedly made a statement that the man depicted in the footage was not hurt and that he was interrogated briefly and then released. The ISF also stated that the photos were taken and published contrary to the ISF orders and values, and that the reservist’s service had been suspended.
In a third video, filmed at night, three completely naked, barefoot and blindfolded Palestinian men are seen being forced onto a bus by ISF soldiers. An ISF soldier is heard swearing at the detainees in Arabic and Hebrew, and making spitting sounds, saying: “brother of a bitch”, “son of a whore”, “you pig”, “your sister’s cunt” and “you pimp.” The Commission found that the video was likely filmed in Ofer prison in the West Bank and showed the transfer of Palestinian detainees. The video was first published on Israeli Telegram news channel D4747 on 13 November 2023 with the description: “Documentation from the transfer of the terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre in Otef.” Shortly after, the video was posted with the description: “The Nazi pigs of Nukhba are led naked straight to the Shin Bet basements.”
Other cases of misconduct of Israeli soldiers, including sexual and gender-based violence, have been widely broadcast on X. Following 7 October 2023, soldiers posted videos online of Palestinians being mistreated and humiliated while being detained. In some cases, the victims were shown fully or partially undressed.
Male detainees reported that ISF personnel had beaten, kicked, pulled or squeezed their genitals, often while they were naked. The Commission verified four such cases. In some cases, ISF personnel used objects such as metal detectors and batons to beat them while they were naked. One detainee who had been held in Negev prison stated that, in November 2023, members of the Keter unit of the Israel Prison Service had forced him to strip and then ordered him to kiss the Israeli flag. When he refused, he was beaten and his genitals were kicked so severely that he vomited and lost consciousness. Another detainee released from Megiddo prison told the Commission: “I was kneeling with my head down and my hands tied behind my back. They beat and kicked me everywhere on my body, including on my face and my genitals. I thought I was going to die.” Similar accounts about violence targeting the genital area have been reported by B’Tselem and Healthcare Workers Watch.
The Commission documented cases of rape and sexual assault of male detainees, including the use of an electrical probe to cause burns to the anus, and the insertion of objects, such as fingers, sticks, broomsticks and vegetables, into the anus and rectum. One victim who had been detained in Sde Teiman told the Commission about severe mistreatment, including being suspended from the ceiling so that only the tips of his toes touched a chair and beaten with tools for hours. During the abuse, a metal tool was inserted in his penis repeatedly until his penis started bleeding, and he fainted. The victim told the Commission: “They took me into an interrogation room and suspended me by my arms behind my back. My toes barely touched the floor. A male guard inserted a metal stick in my penis on several occasions, about twenty times in total. I started bleeding. The pain was excruciating but the humiliation was worse.”
In at least two cases documented by the Commission, victims needed medical treatment and/or surgery due to the injuries caused by rape. In one case, a detained Palestinian man was raped after he was transferred from Ofer prison to Sde Teiman detention facility. According to an indictment submitted to an Israeli military court, the man was physically abused by five soldiers, reservists in Unit 100, during a search at Sde Teiman prison. The men, including the commander of the team, kicked the victim and hit him with a baton and tasered him in the head. A baton was also inserted in his mouth and a dog was used to intimidate the victim during the assault. The assault resulted in the fracture of several of the victim’s ribs and a punctured lung. The victim was also stabbed in the rectum with a sharp object. The victim’s rectum was raptured due to the assault, and he required surgery to the rectum. Following the assault, the victim was required to use a stoma bag due to the gravity of the injuries. A video filming the assailants was taken by a soldier.
The Commission received reports that Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, the head of the orthopaedic department at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, was subjected to sexual violence in an Israeli prison prior to his death in Israeli custody. Al-Bursh was arrested in December 2023 from al-Awda hospital during the ISF’s siege on the hospital. Al-Bursh died at Ofer prison in April after four months in an Israeli prison allegedly due to the mistreatment he endured during his captivity. A released detainee told the Commission that he saw al-Bursh in Sde Teiman in December 2023 where he was bruised and complained of chest pain. The Commission also received reports about a witness in Ofer prison seeing al-Bursh just prior to his death. According to the witness, al-Bursh had been assaulted and stripped naked on his lower body. Al-Bursh’s body remains withheld by the Israeli authorities. To the Commission’s knowledge, there has not been an independent forensic autopsy on the body.
The Commission has determined that detainees were routinely subjected to sexual abuse and harassment, and that threats of sexual assault and rape were directed at detainees or their female family members. The Commission received information about detainees being forced to undress and lie on top of each other while subjected to verbal abuse and forced to curse their mothers. One detainee was subjected to an attempted rape with a carrot in the anus in front of the other detainees. Another detainee held in Sde Teiman reported that female soldiers had forced him and others to make sounds like a sheep, curse the Hamas leadership and the prophet Muhammad, and say “I am a whore.” Detainees were beaten if they did not comply. In another case, a soldier took off his trousers and pressed his crotch to a detainee’s face, saying: “You are my bitch. Suck my dick.”
The Commission reviewed several videos where detainees were interrogated by members of the ISF, while placed in an extremely vulnerable position, completely subjugated, when confessing to witnessing or committing rape and other serious crimes. The names and faces of the detainees were also exposed. The Commission considers the distribution of such videos, purely for propaganda purposes, to be a violation of due process and fair trial guarantees. In view of the apparent coercive circumstances of the confessions appearing in the videos, the Commission does not accept such confessions as proof of the crimes confessed.
Female detainees were also subjected to sexual assault and harassment in military and Israel Prison Service facilities, as well as threats to their lives. The sexual assault and harassment included kicking the women’s genitals, touching their breasts, attempting to kiss them, and threats of rape. One female detainee interviewed by the Commission said that a soldier threatened to gang rape her, kill her and burn her children. The soldier asked her: “How do you want us to rape you? one by one or all together?” The victim was also denied access to her lawyer once she had informed him of the rape threat. In one case reported to the Commission, a woman was threatened with sexual assault in front of her husband while detained in Hasharon prison. One soldier reportedly unzipped his pants and threatened to make the woman sit on his lap while another soldier commented on her breasts. The woman, who had given birth two months prior to her detention, was reportedly spat in her face by the soldiers and beaten repeatedly until she fainted.
Female detainees reported being subjected to repeated, prolonged and invasive strip searches, both before and after interrogations. One woman was strip searched in her cell every three hours during her four-day detention, the guards forcing her to remove all her clothes even though she was menstruating. Women were forced to remove all clothes, including the veil, in front of male and female soldiers. They were beaten and harassed while called “ugly” and subjected to sexual insults, such as “bitch” and “whore,” directed at them. One victim described to the Commission the humiliation she and her fellow detainees were subjected to: “They forced us to strip and laughed at us during the search because some of us had clothes stained with menstruation blood and some smelled because we had not been allowed to take showers. They also laughed at one detainee who was overweight. We felt so insulted and humiliated.” Amnesty International also reported on a violent strip search involving a female detainee in Damon prison where guards reportedly used a huge knife to rip off her clothes.
The Commission received reports from the Palestinian Authority and civil society organisations about the rape of several female detainees but was not able to verify the information. In three of the cases, the rape reportedly involved the insertion of foreign devices in the vagina or rectum of the detainees.