Ramallah: Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- “SHAMS“, vehemently condemns the massacres, atrocities, ongoing inhumane violations, and practices carried out by the occupying forces against Palestinian women, especially in the Gaza Strip. This warrants the international community to stand before its responsibilities, and protect human rights, particularly women’s rights. This is crucial given the enormous deterioration in these rights in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which should be brought before the International Criminal Court. The center stated that, while the occupation violates the rules of international humanitarian law, international law, and the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, the international community and relevant organizations continue to ignore the suffering of Palestinian women. This constitutes a resounding failure of all Western feminist theories.
SHAMS Center calls on the international community and the United Nations institutions, in recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, as established by the United Nations General Assembly on November 25th of each year, an international day dedicated to eliminating violence against women since 1999 under Resolution No. (54/134). The center urges the provision of international guarantees and mechanisms to protect Palestinian women from violence and crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against women in the occupied Palestinian territory. While the goal of this international occasion is supposed to be the protection of women worldwide from violence, injustice, and arbitrary actions, and raising awareness about the issues women face globally, the Israeli killing machine persists in targeting Palestinian women. It deprives them of their right to life through bombardment, destruction, and direct targeting in the Gaza Strip. This includes imposing collective punishment on civilians through a restricted siege, cutting off water, medicine, food, and electricity, as well as targeting health institutions, hospitals, and primary healthcare centers.
SHAMS Center emphasizes that the Israeli occupation’s violations of the rights of Palestinian women during the aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, resulted in the martyrdom of more than 14,500 people, including over 5,800 children, more than 3,900 women, and more than 6,800 missing, mostly women and children. The number of injured exceeds 33,000, and around 1,600,000 displaced, mostly women and children, reflects a deliberate commitment to crime by Israel as an occupying power. It targets the Palestinian people, especially women, expressing the mentality, politics, and ideology of this occupation based on murder, destruction, annihilation, terrorism, and rejection of the other without considering any humanitarian, rights, or ethical considerations. This occurs under the control of extreme right-wing parties in the Israeli occupation government, executing their plans aimed at uprooting the Palestinian people from their land and settling their national question.
The Center condemned the international silence regarding the severe human rights violations and the lethal violence inflicted upon Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation forces. The Center expressed concern about the psychological and social impacts on Palestinian women resulting from the martyrdom of their sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, and relatives. These long-term psychological shocks negatively affect women’s lives, behavior, and their ability to navigate future life naturally.
There is a clear alignment in some countries with the forms of violence practiced by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip, depriving them of their most basic rights, especially the right to life, housing, and healthcare. This reveals the hypocrisy of those countries and their contradictory and deceptive principles regarding respect for human dignity and the protection of fundamental rights. Such countries often boast about equality, women’s rights, and gender issues, while simultaneously disregarding the core values, ethical principles, and human rights they claim to uphold. This undermines their credibility and turns their declarations into empty promises.
SHAMS Center affirmed that the deadly violence against Palestinian women by the Israeli occupation constitutes a profound violation of international humanitarian law, which protects civilians, especially children and women. It calls for their avoidance from conflict zones and military operations, particularly under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 17, which stipulates, “The parties to the conflict shall endeavor to conclude local agreements for the removal from besieged or encircled areas, of wounded, sick, infirm, and aged persons, children, and pregnant women.”
This action is deemed a violation of international human rights law, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict of 1974, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women of 1979, and the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, notably Resolution No. 1325 of the year 2000 on Women, Peace, and Security.
On the internal level, SHAMS Center emphasized the necessity of aligning local Palestinian legislation with the international conventions and treaties, to which the State of Palestine has acceded. These agreements aim to protect women’s rights and preserve their lives and dignity, especially in areas related to honor crimes, penal law, inheritance issues, as well as political, economic, social, and cultural rights. The center underscored the importance of Palestinian institutions, parties, and activities adopting a more inclusive policy toward women’s issues. This includes their representation in leadership positions within political parties, official institutions, and political representation for the Palestinian people, in line with their significant role in the genuine struggle of the Palestinian national liberation movement. Moreover, their crucial role in building families and communities and their authentic representation in the Legislative Council, the National Council, and the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and in key leadership positions within ministries and institutions, were emphasized by the Center.