Israel kills a Palestinian woman every hour in Gaza

The Israeli occupation army has killed an average of 21.3 women per day through the direct bombardment of the Gaza Strip since October 2023, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor revealed in a report released today. This, it added, amounts to approximately one Palestinian woman per hour, not including those who have died due to siege, starvation, or lack of medical care.

“The shocking, unprecedented rate at which women are being killed in the Gaza Strip reflects a systematic Israeli pattern of mass killings deliberately targeting Palestinian women, especially mothers,” the rights group added.

Euro-Med Monitor’s field team has documented the killing of thousands of women, “many of them of childbearing age, including thousands of mothers killed alongside their children” in their homes, displacement camps, temporary shelters, or while fleeing in search of safety or trying to protect their children from bombardment. “The escalating pattern of daily targeting indicates that Israel is using the killing of Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip as a tool to destroy an entire demographic, falling within the crime of genocide under international law,” it warned, adding that this “is an act that directly threatens the future of the Palestinian population.”

Official health records confirm the killing of 12,400 Palestinian women, including 7,920 mothers, during the 582 days of Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. “Field data further indicates that death rates among mothers, pregnant women, and breastfeeding women have reached unprecedented levels due to direct Israeli bombardment.”

Israel’s targeting extends beyond killings, the rights group said, “as 60,000 pregnant women are currently enduring severe conditions due to malnutrition, hunger, and inadequate healthcare, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.” This, it explained, is a direct result of Israel’s strict blockade and ban on the entry of goods and aid since early March.

According to the report: “The killing of Palestinian women and mothers, particularly pregnant women, follows a clear pattern of birth prevention, constituting a fundamental element of genocide under Article 2(d) of the 1948 Genocide Convention. This Article defines “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group” as an act of genocide.”

Israel’s prevention of births in the Gaza Strip takes multiple forms, including the direct killing of women of childbearing age; the targeting of pregnant mothers; the destruction of healthcare infrastructure for childbirth as well as maternal care; the denial of essential medicines and medical supplies; the starvation of mothers and infants; and the lack of adequate nutrition for mothers and infants, resulting in slow deaths and severe health complications.

“Palestinian mothers experience complex psychological distress due to the loss of their children, husbands, and/or homes, plus their inability to protect themselves, their families, and/or secure their livelihoods. The lack of safety and repeated displacements further intensify anxiety, depression, and severe psychological trauma,” Euro-Med added.

It called on all states to take fulfil their legal responsibilities by taking urgent action to stop the genocide in the Gaza and impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel