Israeli soldiers have been sexually assaulting Palestinian women for decades. Now they're speaking out
Palestinian women have been sexually assaulted by Israeli soldiers throughout the past 75 years, but researchers say they are only beginning to speak publicly about their experiences as incidents have mounted since the 7 October attacks.
The cases are so similar, despite happening in different locations and involving different branches of the Israeli military and police, that those documenting them suspect a directive has been handed down.
“You hear these women being sexually assaulted and strip-searched and beaten on their genitals in the West Bank, in Jerusalem and in Gaza, being treated by different bodies of the Israeli system but also being sexually assaulted in the same way,” Kefaya Khraim told Middle East Eye.
It wasn’t always the case that Khraim and her colleague, Amal Abusrour, who both work at the Ramallah-based Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling and spoke at length with MEE during a recent visit to London, would hear so many stories.
For decades, many Palestinian women have kept sexual violence they’ve experienced at the hands of Israeli soldiers to themselves, not even sharing it with their closest friends or family.
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This was partly out of shame or fear of being disgraced. Sometimes it was out of a lack of recognition that what had happened was sexual assault.
But also, Khraim said, it is because Palestinian women have “really low expectations from Israeli soldiers".
Khraim said one woman whose home was invaded by Israeli soldiers who forced her to strip naked told her, “‘Oh, the female soldier was so nice to me. She let me undress with the door closed’."
'They expect so much humiliation and so much violence, so when it’s something like this, they don’t talk about it'
- Kefaya Khraim, WCLAC
“So this is the kind of expectation. They expect so much humiliation and so much violence so when it’s something like this, they don’t talk about it.”
But the sheer number of women who have experienced sexual violence since the 7 October attacks has created a tipping point.
In a report released in June, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory offered details of the types of assaults it found had been committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian women since the Hamas-led attacks, including forced public nudity and stripping, sexualised torture and abuse, and sexual humiliation and harassment.
Moreover, the commission said it had found that sexual violence "has been perpetrated throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory".
Khraim said: “It’s happening a lot. It’s happening to every woman."
On Wednesday afternoon, British MPs are set to discuss the issue in a debate focusing on sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians.
Labour MP Abtisam Mohamed said she secured the debate after hearing the harrowing testimonies that Khraim and Abusrour gave to MPs this October.
"Sexual and gender-based violence has largely been overlooked in the reporting of the conflict since October 7th 2023. I wanted to host the debate as I wanted to raise awareness and to ensure there is justice and accountability for crimes committed," Mohamed told MEE.
"International criminal law must be upheld without fear or favour and there must be consistency in
its application. No state, group or individual is above the law."
Eva Tabbasam, director of the Gender Action for Peace and Security, the UK's Women, Peace and Security civil society network in which WCLAC is a partner, said reports of sexual violence at the hands of Israeli soldiers are horrifying, but not new and "increasing at an alarming rate".
"An independent, impartial investigation into all reports of sexual violence across Palestine is imperative. All survivors deserve the dignity of justice and accountability," Tabbasam said.
"This requires all states, especially the UK as the penholder on Women Peace and Security and a leader on preventing sexual violence in conflict, to stridently uphold international law, enforce its consistent
application, and ensure accountability."
'Patterns of violations'
Since the 7 October attacks, Israel has "followed systemic patterns of violations, targeting Palestinians in general and women in part", Abusrour said.
"Israel actually understands the existing culture and the sensitivity of targeting women and violating women’s rights and even exposing women. Israel has been utilising this approach in order to impose a social stigma on the Palestinian society, and on Palestinian women in particular."
In the West Bank alone, more than 200 Palestinian women, including human rights defenders and journalists, were arrested and detained following the 7 October attacks.
One of the women, Palestinian journalist Lama Khater, went public when she was released, telling of the harsh treatment and conditions she endured - and that she had been strip-searched and threatened with rape.
“She was one of the bravest women who went forward and spoke out about her experience,” Khraim said. “She talked publicly about it and paved the way for other women to speak.”
At least 20 of the women detained in the West Bank have shared their accounts with WCLAC. All said that they were strip-searched multiple times a day in front of one another and beaten on their genitals.
In Jerusalem, Khraim and Abusrour heard a similar account from Selma, a pseudonym they use to protect her identity. The 25-year-old was heading to her job at a nursery in Jerusalem when she was stopped by an Israeli soldier at Bab al-Zahra, one of the gates leading to the Old City.
The soldier wanted to know why she was wearing green. “This is none of your business,” Selma responded.
“For that, she was taken to a police station for four hours, stripped naked and beaten repeatedly on her genitals while the cameras recorded,” Khraim said.
“We are talking about mass sexual assaults happening. We are talking about women being braver now that they see that it is happening to everyone,” Khraim said.
“They feel kind of empowered because there are many of them now.”
Perils of speaking out
But it’s not just organisations like theirs which are documenting these cases, Abusrour said.
“Israeli soldiers actually disseminate videos, footage on social media, on TikTok, saying proudly that they have sexually assaulted Palestinian women or they have robbed Palestinian women,” she said.
In contrast, Palestinian women who are prepared to share their stories may struggle to amplify them.
'Sexual violence against Palestinian women didn’t start on 7 October. It started way before'
- Amal Abusrour, WCLAC
In July 2023, for example, B’Tselem documented an incident in which Israeli soldiers invaded a home in Hebron and, under the threat of large dogs and gunpoint, forced five women, including a 17-year-old, to fully undress in front of their family members and the soldiers.
When the incident was reported in the media, it went viral because public discussions of sexual assault are so rare.
Representatives from human rights groups were discussing the case on a public radio station when a local tribal leader came on air and attacked them for bringing attention to what had happened.
“From his point of view, repeating and exposing that incident was very hard for the family and it would oppress those women,” said Abusrour.
"This shows you how much social stigma is associated with sexual violence. And also shows that sexual violence against Palestinian women didn’t start on 7 October. It started way before."
In addition to social stigma, Palestinian women who have been sexually assaulted have told WCLAC that they have faced further threats from Israeli soldiers following what has happened to them.
There are two captains, in particular, who are known to call up women. "They keep calling these women on their phones regularly, asking them not to speak to the media and not to talk about their stories," Khraim said.
A woman named Khulood told WCLAC that she had been abducted with her husband from the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus and was sexually assaulted in front of him in an attempt to force her to talk.
"Khulood went on to the media and talked about her experience, minus the sexual assault that she faced," Khraim said. Afterwards, one of the captains called her.
"'If you speak to the media again, we are taking you back'," Khulood said she was warned.
Missing school, marrying early
The impact of sexual assault on Palestinian women goes well beyond the acts themselves and their immediate victims.
The simple possibility of being sexually assaulted at a checkpoint means that for many Palestinian women and girls, going to school or work or home - something restricted for all Palestinians living under occupation - has an added layer of risk and burden.
One woman, whose case was documented by WCLAC, was being searched by an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint when he moved into a particular space, away from a glaring surveillance camera.
He took out his penis and told her to look at it and touch it, the woman reported.
Khraim and Abusrour have documented other cases of women who report they have been strip-searched at checkpoints, exposed to the public and had their photos taken while naked.
But even for women and girls who have not been assaulted, the risk of such incidents has consequences.
In the southern part of Hebron, Abusrour said WCLAC has seen cases of girls dropping out of school and families marrying them off at an early age.
"The main reason behind this is not that families think girls should be married off at an early age, but it's out of fear because those families really want a better life for their daughters and they want their daughters to live in a better place," Abusrour said.
"We met with those girls and families and we realised that those girls...tend to stop going to school during their monthly period simply because, at the checkpoints, they will be body searched by male soldiers."
In the same area in Hebron, Abusrour said she met pregnant women who "reported that pregnancy is a kind of nightmare".
"Instead of being nine months of joy, waiting for your child, it's a nightmare for them simply because they do not know when they will be in labour and if they will have an ambulance to take them to the hospital," she said.
Many go to stay with relatives outside of the area to make sure they can get to a hospital on time.
"It's kind of a systematic approach by the Israeli military and the settlers who live inside south Hebron to expel Palestinians from that particular area and to intimidate them by using the women and the bodies of women to increase the shameful practices around these communities," Abusrour said.
'Our responsibility'
Given what they've documented and what they know is possible, I asked Khraim and Abusrour if they are ever scared for their own safety as they go about their daily lives.
"To me, it made me channel my anger about what's happening - to feel like I'm at least documenting and writing this," Khraim said.
"We knew this happened before this. We have all been subjected to violence. Our homes have been invaded before. We have been attacked by settlers before. It's nothing we don't know."
'We have all been subjected to violence. Our homes have been invaded before. We have been attacked by settlers before. It's nothing we don't know'
- Kefaya Khraim, WCLAC
She added: "Working with women like that and giving them the platform to say their stories and their accounts makes them feel empowered in a way, makes them feel like their stories are not going unchecked."
Abusrour said she feels privileged not only because she has the knowledge of how to protect herself, but also how to support other women and share their testimonies to expose what has happened to them.
"I feel proud of what I am doing but, at the same time, I feel anxious. As a human rights defender, I am not safe now going back home," she said, alluding to her return trip to Ramallah from London.
"I'm not safe going from one place to another. I'm not safe at the office because we are under scrutiny as a human rights organisation and we are under surveillance by the Israeli military."
They can never know when their office will be invaded or if WCLAC could be designated as a terrorist organisation as the Israeli defence ministry did to six Palestinian NGOs in 2021.
"However, we feel that we are responsible to share the responsibility with other human rights organisations, with other women's rights organisations to bring an end to these atrocities," she said.
"It is our responsibility as women, as human rights defenders and as feminists."
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