The silence on Gaza from countries with feminist foreign policies ‘is deafening and deeply troubling’

by Anjuman Rahman

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, says countries who advocate women’s rights must ‘walk the talk’, applying their principles consistently and without selective advocacy by avoiding arms transfers that facilitate the killing of Palestinian women by Israel.

Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences addresses the opening session of the Commission on the Status of Women, on 14 March 2022 [UN Women/Ryan Brown/Flickr]

Israel’s war against Gaza, now dragging into its 311th day, has wrought unspeakable devastation. More than 39,897 Palestinians have been killed and more than 92,152 others injured since October 2023.

However, as UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, warns these figures are likely a vast underestimation. The true human cost is much higher, and among the casualties, the suffering of women and children is both profound and devastating.

“It’s very clear that Israel has been targeting Palestinian women as part of its project of destroying the Palestinian people in whole and sparing no means to achieve this objective. So, as a result, there is no right that women have, and no area of life that has remained unaffected,” Alsalem says.

The war has stripped women of their basic rights and dignity, she explains, as the constant fear of being killed, losing close ones and bearing witness to the death and destruction is leaving unparalleled psychological trauma on the people of Gaza.

Pregnant women, mothers and young girls are particularly vulnerable, she explains, as they face a sharp increase in miscarriages, malnutrition, and severe dehydration due to the dire circumstances.

“Mothers and would-be mothers have been targeted by the genocidal machine,” explains Alsalem. “They cannot even feed their newborn kids, not to mention the terror and desperation they feel because of the constant need to flee seeking safety in a place where there is no safety, the bombardments, the constant attack, the arbitrary executions, destruction of their families, family homes and with it the photos and items commemorating their family lives.”

We cannot begin to imagine the sense of defeat that mothers feel to see their kids being killed; having to gather their remains, not being able to even bury them in dignity. The rate of miscarriage for pregnant women has shot up by at least 300 per cent.

Israel, Alsalem explains, has also waged a war on reproduction. “For me the targeting of the fertility clinic of Gaza and the orders to abandon newborn babies to die and decompose slowly will always be emblematic of this reproductive violence, though far from the only example.”

Palestinians living in the area migrate to the Al Mawasi district, the west part of the city with their belongings following the Israeli army’s evacuation warning at Hamad area in Khan Yunis, Gaza on August 11, 2024. [Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency]

“We also know women can’t even find dignity in menstruation. They don’t have access to menstruation kits especially while in Israeli detention. Withholding dignity kits has become a tool of the Israeli occupation … to humiliate and oppress them.”

In addition to the attacks on women’s ability to live in dignity, Alsalem highlights that “many women have also been summarily executed, tortured, sexually abused, raped and harassed by keeping them naked for prolonged periods of time, photographing them in indecent positions, sharing images between soldiers and settlers.”

“We all have seen the pleasure that Israeli soldiers have taken in collecting and displaying the intimate clothes of Palestinian women as war trophies. I have no doubt that the scale of sexual abuse of Palestinian women is vastly underreported. The horrific testimonies of abuse of Palestinian men, and the concerning move of parts of Israeli society to celebrate such abhorrent behaviour should be indicative.”

According to a new report by Israeli rights group B’Tselem, over a dozen Israeli prison facilities have been transformed into a network of camps “focused on the mistreatment of detainees” since the onset of Israel’s war on Gaza.

“Such spaces, in which every inmate is intentionally condemned to severe, relentless pain and suffering, operate in fact as torture camps,” the rights group said.

It added that since 7 October, at least 60 Palestinians have died while in Israeli custody; approximately 48 of them from Gaza. The report highlights that testimonies from detainees reveal “a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners.”

Former prisoner, Nadiah Al-Hilu, 45, recounted being held in an iron cage with other female detainees for 11 days, during which they were given very little food and faced constant harassment. She described the severe lack of hygiene, sleep deprivation and constant surveillance by male and female soldiers.

“My hands were in zip ties the whole time. We were given very little food. I barely even ate that so I wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom, which was far away and didn’t have a tap,” she said.

“If you were menstruating, you got one pad. There was no shower, either.”

This policy, the report asserts, is carried out under the orders of Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, with the complete backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“What is very clear is that there’s full impunity for these crimes that are being committed,” Alsalem says. “As I said before, the arbitrary detention of Palestinians and abhorrent inhumane conditions in which Palestinians are detained, is nothing new. The gender based violence Palestinian detained women and girls are kept under is also not new.”

But for Alsalem it is the inaction of countries with feminist foreign policies which is most worrying. “The silence by many feminists and feminist organisations has also been deafening and deeply troubling,” notes Alsalem.

Countries that champion women’s rights must “walk the talk”, she says, applying their principles consistently and without selective advocacy by prioritising the prevention of such atrocities, and avoid arms transfers that facilitate the killing of women and children.

“The responsibility to end this systematic violence against Palestinian women is the responsibility of all states, particularly those whose actions, through collaboration with Israel, result in furthering the illegal occupation and also supporting the ongoing genocide. After all, states have a responsibility to end discrimination and violence against all women,” the UN official says.

“It also means prioritising putting an end, not just to the war and to the violations, but also also avoiding arms transfers that are then used to kill women and children.”

The credibility of their foreign policies hinges on this very consistency, she explains.

Alsalem draws parallels with other conflicts, such as in Sudan, noting a regression in protections for women post-7 October. She observed that even in times of conflict, the rights of civilians, and the protection afforded to them, including of women and children appears to have shrunk globally. While horrific crimes and atrocities against women, including sex and gender-based violence, seem to have been normalised. “The world does not seem to bat an eyelid anymore at such horrific accounts, be it the occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan Haiti or others. You get the sense that the world leaders seem to have resigned themselves to this being the new normal in war though there is nothing normal about this in international human rights and humanitarian law.”

Meanwhile, Israel is making “very deliberate efforts … to rewrite humanitarian laws that dehumanise and villainize civilians and pretend that its actions have legitimacy in international law,” Alsalem explains.

She warns the international community’s inability to take action to save Palestinian women brings into question the applicability of international laws.

“If the world has allowed Palestinian women to have their lives completely disregarded and expendable like this, that will spill over into the treatment of women worldwide. Not only in times of war, but also in times of peace. It has ramifications for women worldwide.”