First published: 07/08/2024
“They took me and my daughter to a room inside the house, and they brought in a female soldier with a police dog. She ordered us to undress completely. We did. I acted blind, deaf, and mute so that they would not beat my son,” recounts Suhad Al-Khamour, 49, from the Dheisheh refugee camp south of Bethlehem. Suhad’s harrowing testimony, as reported by Raseef22, reveals a disturbing pattern of violence and humiliation directed at Palestinian women by Israeli occupation forces.
A War on the Female Body
The systematic targeting of Palestinian women’s bodies by Israeli forces represents a deliberate strategy to inflict humiliation, fear, and control. In late November, Suhad’s home was surrounded by heavily armed Israeli occupation forces who stormed in, destroying its contents. Suhad, a mother of three sons and a daughter, describes how armed soldiers kept her husband and son in the living room while she and her daughter were taken into a bedroom at gunpoint, trailed by a guard dog. Forced to undress before being allowed to leave the house barefoot, they waited in the cold for the questioning of her husband and son, Mohammad, 26, to conclude. Mohammad was taken but released two hours later. However, on December 4th, the occupation army raided Suhad’s home again, taking Mohammad to Ofer Prison near Ramallah.
Suhad is no stranger to the violence of occupation. Her son Ibrahim, 20, is detained at Nafha Prison serving a five-year sentence, while her son Omar, 14, was killed in early 2023 after being shot in the head by occupation forces. Her only remaining child at home, Rona, 24, is experiencing rapid psychological deterioration.
Suhad’s story, highlighted by Raseef22, is not unique. Hundreds of Palestinian women have been arrested or had family members arrested across the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza, subjected to various forms of humiliation and violence.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club and the Commission of Detainees' Affairs, around 300 female prisoners were arrested in 2023, including 184 after October 7, 2023. Since then, Israel has intensified its campaign of illegal arrests, targeting women's bodies through torture, abuse, strip searches, forced veil removals, starvation, deprivation of basic needs, and detention in harsh conditions.
Testimonies from Gazan female prisoners reveal similar tools of humiliation. Many civilians have been forcibly taken prisoner by occupation forces, their whereabouts still unknown.
The Psychological and Physical Assault
Ruba Assi, released on November 28, 2023, as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel, shared her ordeal with Raseef22. Assi’s arrest after October 7th was significantly more violent and humiliating than her first arrest in 2020. She describes being blindfolded, bound, and threatened by a female soldier before being subjected to a strip search and solitary confinement under harsh conditions.
Assi’s testimony is echoed by many others who have experienced torture, abuse, beatings, threats of rape, and being taken hostage to pressure family members to turn themselves in. These methods of torture occur during home raids, at Israeli checkpoints, and during visits to detained family members. The psychological impact of such violence is profound, often leading to long-term trauma and mental health issues.
A Longstanding Policy of Humiliation
Strip searches are a longstanding tool of suppression and humiliation for Israel, recently intensified as part of the ongoing violent campaign against Palestinians in Gaza. Former prisoner and expert on Israeli affairs, Ismat Mansour, told Raseef22 that strip searches are used to violate the privacy and desecrate the space of Palestinians, diminishing their humanity intentionally.
The Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association confirmed to Raseef22 that strip searches are not new but have become more violent since the start of the ongoing war on Gaza. Female prisoners face strip searches at arrest, detention centres, and often squatting positions. Male prisoners also endure these humiliations, a tactic to seize control of the detainee's body and violate their dignity.
The Urgent Call for Accountability
Dr. Dalal Iriqat, an international law specialist, explained to Raseef22 that systematic and repeated violations against prisoners, including strip searches, escalate into war crimes against humanity under international law. These actions violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, depriving prisoners of basic rights such as food and a healthy environment.
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has called on the international community to pressure Israel to reveal the fate of Gazan women who have been arrested and remain unaccounted for. Approximately 3,000 Palestinian detainees from Gaza, including women, girls, and minors, have disappeared. They are subjected to humiliating detention conditions, strip searches, forced removal of hijabs, and threats of rape.
Conclusion
The intensity of the crimes committed against Palestinian women is a prominent and dangerous aspect of the ongoing war. This violence extends a long history of Israeli targeting of Palestinian women, aiming to undermine their dignity and deter them from their roles in the struggle against occupation.
It is imperative that the international community holds Israel accountable for these war crimes and ensures the protection and dignity of Palestinian women. Only through global pressure and advocacy can we hope to end this cycle of violence and oppression, fostering a future where human rights are respected and upheld for all.
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