Palestine accuses Israel of sexual violence crimes, demands investigation

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on Thursday on the UN Secretary-General and his Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to "conduct a comprehensive investigation into the various forms of sexual violence committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinian people, and to ensure accountability for them, in line with the principles of fair treatment, equality and non-discrimination."

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict that "many official reports and investigative articles, in addition to live testimonies, confirmed that Palestinian detainees were subjected to humiliating and tragic conditions, including interrogation, torture, humiliation and sexual assault, and deprivation of all rights guaranteed by international humanitarian law in the detention centers of the Israeli colonial occupation."

It condemned "the continued commission of systematic and widespread crimes by the Israeli army against the Palestinian people, not limited to deliberate killing, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrests, starvation, forced displacement, storming and demolishing homes, confiscating land and property, and denying access to medical and basic services, but also including sexual violence as a tool of war for 75 years."

"Since 2023, the Israeli army has arrested more than 9,155 Palestinian men and women, including 300 women and 635 children, and forcibly disappeared thousands of them, many of whom are subjected to sexual violence, beatings, torture, harassment, verbal abuse and forced nudity at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces," according to the same statement.

The Foreign Ministry stressed that "these heinous acts not only show disregard for the dignity and rights of the Palestinian people, but also the occupation's contempt for international law and the simplest rules of ethics, which led to the commission of the most heinous war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide."

It also renewed its call for "the international community and its institutions to assume their responsibilities and work to stop the barbaric Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, stop the genocide, lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and allow unconditional entry of food, water, fuel, medical and humanitarian aid."