GENEVA, 13th March, 2025 (WAM) -- Senior human rights investigators reporting to the UN Human Rights Council alleged on Thursday that sexual and gender-based violence by Israeli security forces against Palestinians – including children - have been increasingly used “as a method of war” following the 7 October 2023 attacks that sparked the Gaza war, according to UN News.
“Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their right to self-determination,” maintained Chris Sidoti from the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
Speaking in Geneva, the human rights lawyer said that “the frequency, prevalence and severity of sexual and gender-based crimes perpetrated across the OPT leads the Commission to conclude that sexual and gender-based violence is increasingly used as a method of war by Israel to destabilise, dominate, oppress and destroy the Palestinian people”.
Established by the Council in May 2021, the Commission has a mandate to investigate and report on alleged violations of international law in the OPT, including East Jerusalem - and in Israel.