Executive Summary

On February 15, the government of Israel approved a process to register land in the occupied West Bank as Israeli “state property.” The decision builds on a cabinet resolution introduced in May of 2025 that established the framework for renewed land settlement proceedings on Palestinian land.

Implemented for the first time since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967, this process enables Israeli authorities to declare land ‘state property’ when Palestinian ownership cannot be formally proven; a standard difficult for many Palestinians to meet. Even when landownership can be met, expropriative policies such as the Absentee Property Law allows Israel to confiscate Palestinian property and sell it to Israelis. A total of NIS 244.1 million has been allocated for this program, which has been stated to continue for decades. Israeli Government Resolution No. 3559 sets a first-phase objective of registering 15% of previously unregulated land within five years. [1]

This development follows the Israeli cabinet’s February 8th approval of a series of measures that expand Israeli control over land administration and acquisition in the West Bank, undermining the Palestinian Authority (PA) and amounting to de facto annexation. The details of the measures have not been released to the public, only communicated through a press release by government ministers.

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Introduction

Palestinian women in Gaza are subjected to overlapping forms of violence by Israel that converge into a single, coherent structure of domination. Starvation, sexual and gender-based violence, and reproductive violence do not occur as isolated abuses, but as an interlocking system enacted simultaneously and reinforcing one another. These practices operate across psychological, social, and biological dimensions of harm. While Palestinian women’s bodies are the immediate site of this violence, its intended target is Palestinian society as a whole. By systematically targeting women, Israel undermines collective survival, erodes social cohesion, and attacks the continuity of Palestinian life itself. Taken together, these practices constitute a gendered architecture of genocide that must be recognized and addressed as such.

The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) has documented these three crimes throughout Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Firsthand testimonies collected from the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank reveal the distinctly gendered impacts of these violations and their cumulative effects on Palestinian women.

I. Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

Sexual and gender-based violence is systematically instrumentalized by Israel as a means of humiliating and isolating Palestinian women while dismantling family and community bonds. These violations should not be understood as isolated or aberrational incidents, but rather as part of a broader historical pattern in which sexual violence has been deployed as a tool of terror and social control against the Palestinian population.

Historical records document that during the 1948 ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine, Zionist paramilitary forces including the Haganah engaged in acts of sexual violence alongside mass killings and expulsions of Palestinians. The Haganah later became the institutional foundation of the contemporary Israeli military. This historical continuity underscores how sexual violence has long functioned as a weapon of war, embedded within military practices aimed at terrorizing civilians and facilitating population displacement.

Testimonies collected by MIFTAH fieldworkers across the West Bank and Gaza Strip reveal recurring patterns. Arrests conducted in family homes routinely transform domestic spaces into sites of domination. Soldiers storm houses, often in the middle of the night, restrain family members, destroy personal belongings, steal valuables, and dictate all movement within the home. Male relatives are frequently forced to witness or participate in the abuse of female family members, a tactic designed to emasculate men and dismantle the household from within.

Sexual violence also functions as a form of psychological torture in Israeli detention and interrogation settings. Alongside sleep deprivation, starvation, and physical assault, sexual violence is deliberately employed to induce psychological breakdown and assert total control. Testimonies describe forced strip searches, removal of hijabs, invasive bodily touching, slut-shaming, and explicit threats of rape against detainees or their relatives . Testimonies collected by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) describe in detail the systematic use of secual torture in Israeil detention settings. Sexual violence is further enacted through blackmail, including the use of nude or indecent photographs taken during interrogation to coerce compliance or enforce silence. These practices aim to strip women of dignity, break them psychologically prior to or during interrogation, and inflict lasting harm that weakens their sense of self long after release.

The full extent of sexual violence against Palestinian women today remains difficult to quantify, as survivors rarely disclose sexual assault or rape causing underreporting to be widespread. This silence reflects structural, legal, and social barriers rather than the absence of abuse. Palestinian survivors of violence perpetrated by Israeli soldiers or settlers seldom pursue legal avenues due to the well-documented lack of accountability within Israeli law enforcement mechanisms, where investigations rarely result in prosecution or redress .

Social stigma also plays a role in silencing survivors. In a predominantly conservative social context, sexual violence carries stigma that extends beyond the survivor to her family and community. Israeli forces exploit this reality deliberately, using sexual violence and threats to women’s “honor” as mechanisms of coercion, intimidation, and social fragmentation. In this way, sexual violence operates not only as an assault on individual women, but as a strategic instrument of collective harm.

II. Reproductive Violence

Reproductive violence targets women’s capacity to give life through the systematic destruction of healthcare systems, maternity services, and the material conditions necessary for survival. It refers to deliberate actions intended to impair an entire population’s ability to reproduce and sustain itself. In Gaza, reproductive violence is not incidental to armed conflict; it is enacted through policy-driven destruction that reflects intentionality rather than collateral harm.

This violence is carried out through the systematic targeting of life-sustaining infrastructure, including hospitals, maternity wards, neonatal units, fertility clinics, and embryo preservation centers, as well as the blockade of medicines, medical equipment, and hygiene supplies. The consequences are visible in rising maternal mortality, increased miscarriages linked to malnutrition and extreme stress, untreated reproductive infections, and the repeated displacement of pregnant women seeking care within a collapsing healthcare system .

These measures directly undermine women’s ability to safely conceive, carry pregnancies to term, give birth, and raise children. Women’s reproductive health is further compromised by the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid and the collapse of sanitation and water infrastructure. The destruction of healthcare facilities, combined with ongoing bombardment and repeated displacement, has rendered movement dangerous and unpredictable, making access to medical care nearly impossible and severely limiting the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide reproductive and maternal health services.

As a result, there has been a sharp increase in preventable reproductive health complications. Women report rising cases of fever linked to untreated vaginal infections caused by inadequate hygiene and the absence of feminine hygiene products, as well as unnecessary hysterectomies . Women using intrauterine devices experience prolonged bleeding and infections due to unsanitary living conditions, yet no options for safe removal currently exist in Gaza, posing serious long-term risks to reproductive health and bodily integrity . Women have also been forced to undergo emergency hysterectomies to control excessive post- partum bleeding that could not be managed due to the lack of healthcare.

Reproductive violence in Gaza is therefore both biological and symbolic. It constitutes an assault on the present population and on the possibility of future generations. The objective of preventing Palestinian continuity is further evidenced by the sustained and disproportionate killing of children, who have consistently been the most targeted demographic group throughout the genocide. This killing is reinforced by an ideological framework that dehumanizes Palestinian women and children. Public statements by Israeli political and military officials have repeatedly framed the killing of women and children as militarily justified . Within this logic, women are targeted not for their actions, but for their reproductive capacity and their role in sustaining Palestinian continuity. Such rhetoric has informed and legitimized military operations in Gaza. Throughout the genocide, civilian spaces including schools, homes, and hospitals, have been deliberately targeted as a matter of state policy. These are precisely the spaces where women and children sought refuge. The systematic killing and endangerment of women and children is not a secondary effect of warfare but a central component of the broader genocidal strategy.

III. Starvation as a Weapon of Genocide

Another grave factor to the reproductive health of women in Gaza has been starvation. Prolonged malnutrition, combined with physical exhaustion, repeated displacement, and lack of healthcare infrastructure, have contributed to increased miscarriages, loss of amniotic fluid, and heightened maternal mortality . Numerous women have reported using prenatal supplements distributed by humanitarian organizations as meal substitutes for themselves or their families, or exchanging them for food and essential supplies. Breastfeeding has become increasingly difficult due to suppressed milk production associated with undernourishment, while infant formula remains largely inaccessible, placing newborns at heightened risk. Chronic stress and nutritional deprivation have also resulted in amenorrhea, fertility complications, and potential long-term reproductive harm.

For women in Gaza, starvation functions not only as a form of biological deprivation but as a structural assault on familial roles, social reproduction, and dignity. It undermines women’s capacity to fulfill caregiving responsibilities, destabilizes family life, and produces severe physical, reproductive, and psychological consequences. Women disproportionately experience the embodied impacts of hunger while simultaneously carrying the emotional labor associated with sustaining children and dependent family members.

Testimonies collected by MIFTAH from displaced women subjected to Israel’s forced starvation consistently begin with descriptions of pre-displacement life, including homes, employment, family routines, and domestic spaces. The loss of the home, particularly the kitchen, emerges as a recurrent theme, reflecting the erosion of women’s agency and identity. The destruction of homes and domestic spaces traditionally associated with women’s autonomy has contributed to a marked erosion of dignity and self-perception. Reported symptoms include anxiety, insomnia, hair loss, emotional dysregulation, and post-traumatic stress, with many women suppressing their own distress to maintain caregiving roles.

Repeated displacement has further exacerbated women’s vulnerability. Multiple forced relocations have resulted in the loss of personal possessions, kinship networks, and community-based support systems. Overcrowded shelters lack adequate privacy, sanitation, and safety, compelling women to manage childcare and food preparation under unsafe and degrading conditions. Everyday survival practices are thus shaped by constant exposure to risk and instability.

For women who serve as the primary caretakers of their families, providing for loved ones often comes at great personal risk. They are frequently reducing or skipping their own meals so that their children can eat, often continuing caregiving responsibilities despite severe physical exhaustion . In displacement, they prepare rudimentary meals using limited ingredients and improvised methods, such as cooking lentils over burning toxic materials like plastic. These practices function both as survival strategies and as efforts to maintain a sense of continuity and stability for children amid profound disruption. In these contexts, women disproportionately bear the responsibility of caring for sick, injured, or disabled family members, despite acute shortages of medical care, clean water, and shelter. Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions contribute to widespread illness, while attempts to obtain food or humanitarian assistance expose women and children to ongoing risks of injury or death.

Starvation has additionally intensified gendered pressures within households. Men’s inability to secure food or protection has been associated with increased psychological distress, thereby expanding women’s emotional and caregiving responsibilities. For women whose spouses have been killed, detained, or disappeared, starvation enforces sole provider roles under conditions that systematically undermine the possibility of survival.

Conclusion

MIFTAH has documented violations of sexual violence, reproductive violence, and starvation at various points during the genocide in Gaza. These violations, however, do not occur in isolation; they operate simultaneously, reinforcing and amplifying one another as part of a single system of control. Sexual violence isolates women from themselves and alienates them within their communities. Reproductive violence deliberately targets women because of their childbearing roles. Starvation acts as both a biological and psychological assault. Taken together, these crimes compound one another, deepening harm and undermining the survival of Palestinian women and their communities. A single woman may experience all three forms of violence, being violated in detention, displaced and denied healthcare, and later starved while unable to feed her children. Together, these crimes transform daily life into a persistent site of punishment. They attack the Palestinian female spirit, disrupt women’s societal roles, and, in doing so, fracture society across generations, making recovery increasingly difficult.

The failure to confront these violations reflects a long colonial history, in which the rhetoric of “saving women” was used to justify empire while violence against women perpetrated by colonial powers was silenced or dismissed. To resist normalization and impunity, these crimes must be recognized and addressed as mutually reinforcing acts of genocide. Understanding these violations as an interconnected system of oppression is essential to grasp their full impact on Palestinian society. These gendered crimes are not about women alone; they aim to dismantle the foundations of Palestinian life. Women are targeted not only as individuals but as mothers, community anchors, and bearers of generational continuity, while Palestinian society is systematically weakened and broken at its core.

Sources and References

Executive Summary

On 17 November 2025, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2803, establishing a new governance framework for Gaza. The resolution endorses U.S. President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict (CPEGC) and the creation of a transitional international administration through a U.S.-led Board of Peace (BoP) and authorizes an International Stabilization Force (ISF). Rather than ensuring Palestinian sovereignty, this framework transfers control of Gaza’s civil administration, security, reconstruction, borders, and humanitarian aid to external actors, entrenching foreign oversight and further consolidating Israeli dominance over the occupied Palestinian territory.

This resolution raises grave legal and political concerns. It departs from foundational principles of international law and undermines the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination. By providing no mechanisms for accountability for Israel’s documented violations, offering no concrete safeguards for Palestinian rights, and presenting an undefined framework with no clear timeline or benchmarks, Resolution 2803 risks perpetuating systemic injustices, enabling a reconfigured form of occupation, and further entrenching the colonial-style control already in place.

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“It is unconscionable that Bethlehem should be allowed to die slowly from strangulation.”

—Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 2005

Bethlehem has historically been a beacon of multiculturalism and coexistence in the Middle East. It has also been integral to the social and economic fabric of Palestinian society.

Construction of Israel’s Wall in and around Bethlehem, ongoing Israeli settlement (colony) expansion, and other Israeli policies designed to sever Bethlehem from occupied East Jerusalem have decimated Bethlehem’s once vibrant economy and transformed the historic city into a concrete ghetto. All this continues despite the International Court of Justice’s July 9th, 2004 opinion, which deemed Israel’s Wall and all of its settlements illegal.

This ghettoization of Bethlehem is not only destroying ancient communities, but is also directly impeding prospects for Middle East peace. Because of Bethlehem’s significance to and historic ties with Palestinian East Jerusalem, Bethlehem’s demise may well mark the beginning of the end of the Two-State solution. For without East Jerusalem there can be no viable Palestinian state, and hence no viable peace.

This fact sheet outlines the grave threats facing Bethlehem, and by extension a viable peace today. The damage visited upon Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the Two-State Solution could potentially be reversed if appropriate action is taken now.

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Last night, another high-level meeting in a series of meetings between Palestinians and Israelis over the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza concluded without an agreement that would permit Palestinians to open the crossing point. Palestinian Minister Ghassan Khatib, who is in charge of coordinating outstanding issues post-“Disengagement” with Israel, expressed “deep frustration” with Israel’s “refusal to coordinate in good faith.”

The Rafah crossing point connects Egypt with the Gaza Strip. It is one of many outstanding issues stemming from Israel’s evacuation of the Gaza Strip, including the overland crossing points of Karni, which historically provides access to the West Bank, and Erez. Although the World Bank has invited the parties to hold meetings on Karni and Erez over the past six weeks, Israel has refused to convene this tripartite committee.

In fact, since Israel concluded the evacuation of its settlers from the Gaza Strip on September 12th, 2005 Israel has tightened its control over all entry/exit points to the Gaza Strip, including Rafah. The Palestinians, the World Bank, and the international community have long maintained that without the free flow of people and goods between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank—and between the Gaza Strip and the rest of the world—the Gaza Strip would remain embroiled in humanitarian crisis and political instability.

Israel, however, continues to press for ultimate control over the flow of people and goods between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. In recent meetings, it has called for live transmissions to monitor crossings, veto power over persons and goods traveling through Rafah, or agreements with Egyptians, rather than Palestinians, to ensure ultimate Israeli control.

In addition to Minister Khatib, the meeting was attended by Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat and Head of the Crossing Points Authority Nazmi Muhana on the Palestinian side. Eitan Dangot, Ammos Gilaad, Baruch Speigal, and Einat Wolfe represented Israel. The meeting was chaired by representatives from the office of Quartet Special Envoy James Wolfensohn.

Minister Khatib decried the situation as “ridiculous.” “We have done everything possible to coordinate with Israel,” said Dr. Khatib. “But as James Wolfensohn noted, coordination has brought much less than expected and it is almost as if the ‘Disengagement’ had never occurred.”

Mr. Khatib noted that the Palestinian Authority had worked with USAID to fully equip the Rafah crossing point and had invited the European Union to assist initially with managing the crossing point and monitoring Palestinian compliance with international standards. “With the international community’s assistance,” Mr. Khatib continued, “Rafah could be open and functional tomorrow.”

“Instead,” Mr. Khatib said, “Israel wants to control Rafah. We think Rafah should be an issue between us and Egypt. We’ve made proposals deemed reasonable and endorsed by the international community.”

Mr. Khatib noted since September 12th, Israel had conducted over 1,000 military raids in the territories, arrested nearly 700 Palestinians, and killed almost 30 Palestinians, all the while making room for over three times the number of settlers in the West Bank than it had evacuated from Gaza as part of “Disengagement,” especially in and around occupied East Jerusalem.

“Based on this illegal activity and Israel’s refusal to even talk about returning to negotiations, I’m convinced,” said Mr. Khatib, “that Israeli coordination is little more than smoke and mirrors.”

Mr. Khatib concluded his remarks with a harsh admonition of Israel: “Israel is addicted to occupation—to control. It doesn’t seem to understand that both Israeli and Palestinian security depends on Israel letting go. By holding on, Palestinians are caged in disconnected prisons, without hope or future—and the newly-elected government can’t even dream to provide the most basic services, much less improve security for Palestinians.”

“This is a tragedy. For both our peoples. We have the opportunity today—today—to negotiate a lasting and fair peace. Yes, opening Rafah is a small beginning, not an end. We urgently need to deal with Karni, Erez, a link to the West Bank, the closure regime in the West Bank, and the airport and seaport as well. But let our new Leadership, a Leadership committed to peaceful dialogue and negotiating an end to this historic conflict now, do its job. But we can never, and will never, agree to acting as Israel’s wardens in our own prison.”

The Minister will hold an in-depth political briefing tomorrow, November 1st, at 10:00 AM at the Prime Minister’s Offices in Ramallah.

Last night, the Quartet’s Special Envoy James Wolfensohn and his aides convened high-level talks on opening the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Minister of Planning Ghassan Khatib deemed the issue “critical to easing Gaza’s economic and humanitarian crisis and vital to stabilizing its political and security situation.” He expressed hope the Israel would agree to a resolution as early as tomorrow, when the next meeting is scheduled.

The Rafah Crossing point lies on Gaza’s border with Egypt and is expected to represent one of the main corridors of trade and travel between a future state of Palestine and the outside world. “Opening Rafah is a significant step towards freeing an entire civilian population. It will mean more jobs, more trade, and ultimately more hope.”

Currently, over two-thirds of Gaza’s 1.3 million residents subsist on US$ 2.25 or less per day while paying some of the highest electricity rates in the world to Israel. The World Bank and the United Nations have identified Israel’s “closure regime”—its systematic restrictions on travel and trade within and between the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank and beyond—as a direct cause of the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.

“In fact,” the Minister asserted, “Israel has tightened its grip on the Palestinian people and their economies since completing its evacuation. Karni crossing…used to average 50 truckloads of Palestinian exports destined for the West Bank each day,” he said. “Now only an average of 20 [truckloads] make it through.”

Nevertheless, Minister Khatib said he was “cautiously optimistic [since] we achieved small but meaningful progress [in the more than four hours of discussions].” But he cautioned that while coordination is good, no one can afford to fail. “In general, we have an historic opportunity to negotiate a fair and viable solution to this conflict. To seize this opportunity, we need to actually improve people’s daily lives. Gaza has been strangled for too long; we need to ease the suffocation of Gaza now.”

When asked about James Wolfensohn’s role, who called and chaired the series of meetings, Minister Khatib said that he had been “a positive, constructive, and essential presence [in bringing the Palestinians and Israelis together].”

A follow-up meeting on Rafah has been scheduled for tomorrow. Talks between Israelis and Palestinians on customs and security are also scheduled to be held later this week.

As Israel was completing its evacuation of 8,500 settlers in the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank yesterday, it embarked on plans to make room for 25,000 more settlers in Ma’ale Adumim, a settlement east of Jerusalem. If enacted, this plan will mean an end to the Two-State Solution.

Ma’ale Adumim lies 4.5 kilometers east of the 1967 pre-occupation border and 2 kilometers east of the Israeli-defined municipal boundary of Jerusalem—a boundary deemed illegal by the international community. Currently, some 30,000 settlers live in Ma’ale Adumim. While construction was underway on hundreds of new units tendered last year, the Israeli government approved construction of an additional 2,100 units this year, which could house approximately 10,000 new settlers

Another 3,500 units, which could house over 15,000 new settlers, have been approved in the so-called “E-1 Plan.” The E-1 Plan aims to link Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem, at the direct expense of Palestinian Christian and Muslim communities that lie in between. At the request of the Bush administration, Israel placed construction of these units on hold. However, on August 16, 2005 Israel issued confiscation orders for 1,600 dunums (400 acres) of Palestinian land for the Wall around Ma’ale Adumim, including the area slated for E-1, suggesting that construction of these units is not a matter of if, but when.

When complete, Israel’s Wall around Ma’ale Adumim, including E-1, will extend 14 km into the occupied West Bank—staking out an area for the Adumim bloc’s settlements larger than that of Tel Aviv.

(For a map of Ma’ale Adumim, E-1, and the new confiscation orders, please visit: http://www.nad-plo.org/news-updates/maale_adumim.pdf )

A Palestinian capital and free Palestinian access to and from East Jerusalem is essential to a viable two-state solution. Metropolitan East Jerusalem, which includes Bethlehem and Ramallah, accounts for 30-40% of the Palestinian economy. The ancient city is also the historic cultural and political center of Palestinian life.

Palestinian access to East Jerusalem could also promote the success of Gaza “Disengagement”: creating links between East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip could help reinvigorate Gaza’s decimated economy by providing Palestinians in Gaza with access to East Jerusalem’s unique international market.

However, Ma’ale Adumim, Israel’s Wall and the settlement rings around East Jerusalem cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and slice the West Bank in two. Fragmenting East Jerusalem and severing East Jerusalem from the communities on which it has historically depended means that it is increasingly difficult for Jerusalem’s historic Palestinian communities to sustain themselves. If enacted, the E-1 Plan will provide territorial contiguity for 30,000 illegal settlers by denying that contiguity for 2.4 million Palestinians in the rest of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli officials have countered that a road could be built to link Ramallah to Bethlehem. Ramallah is located north of East Jerusalem and Bethlehem to the city’s south. This proposal, however, would still deny Palestinians access to the East Jerusalem because the road would bypass the city. It would also facilitate the expansion of Israel’s settlements and the construction of Israel’s Wall, all illegal under international law. And by aiding the expansion of Israel’s settlements and the continued construction of Israel’s Wall, this proposal would continue to restrict the natural development of Palestinian communities on Palestinian land, forcing Palestinians into ever-shrinking ghettoes.

On February 7th, The Washington Post confirmed Israel’s Jerusalem strategy when it released the findings of an investigative report. The investigation concluded that all of Israel’s ministries had conspired to violate both international law and Israeli law to consolidate its hold in Jerusalem while severing Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. While “Disengagement” proves that Israel can reverse its illegal settlement policy, the harm to historic Palestinian communities may not be reversible.

The Palestinian leadership calls on Israel to seize the day after “Disengagement” as an opportunity for peace, rather than to permit Israel to disengage from the Two-State Solution. The Palestinian leadership is committed to returning immediately to the Road Map for Peace, which includes a freeze on all settlement construction.

The Palestinian Leadership recognizes the important opportunity that the evacuation of 2% of Israel’s settlers creates, but fears that settlement expansion in E-1 and Ma’ale Adumim may squander that historic opportunity—and with it, any hope of achieving a viable two-state solution.