December 10 marks the end of another 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence and International Human Rights Day.
Yet, it feels deeply unsettling to discuss human rights while one of the most documented genocides in history unfolds before our eyes: the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
This crisis, driven by a settler-colonialist state operating under an apartheid system, has perpetuated ethnic cleansing for more than 14 months.
However, this tragedy did not begin on October 7 last year; it is the result of more than seven decades of systematic oppression and violence against Palestinians.
These crimes include the dispossession and destruction of lands and homes, looting and theft of property, physical violence, killings, torture and sexual violence — atrocities carried out with complete impunity.
The urgency for accountability and justice has never been greater.
Women, girls, and children remain the most vulnerable groups in all conflict zones — including Palestine. They bear the heaviest burden by paying the highest price as political conflicts evolve into devastating gender-based tragedies.
The toll on women in Gaza is particularly harrowing.
The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office revealed in November that nearly 70% of verified victims were women and children; 44% were children and 26% were women.
Among those killed, five-to-nine-year-olds were the most affected age group. About 80% of the victims died in residential buildings, underscoring the heavy toll on civilians.
On average, two mothers are killed every hour and seven women every two hours. These numbers reflect the unimaginable scale of the humanitarian crisis.
The UN has reported dire conditions for pregnant women in Gaza, with many undergoing C-sections without anaesthesia and some forced to have life-altering hysterectomies due to severe medical shortages.
Oxfam has noted a 25–30% rise in premature births and a doubling of placental abruption cases.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports increased mortality among premature infants due to a lack of incubators and fuel for hospital generators, while preventable deaths from diarrhoea and hypothermia are rising.
The World Health Organization highlights that more than 177,000 women face life-threatening health risks, including 15,000 pregnant women on the brink of famine.
Despite these challenges, women remain the primary caregivers, often eating last and least amid extreme hunger.
Domestic violence
Beyond structural and colonial violence, the rate of intimate partner violence has also surged. Research is increasingly showing strong links between political conflict and gender-based violence.
Colonialism, with its legacy of structural violence, is a primary driver of gender-based violence. Countries that were colonised are 50 times more likely to have a high prevalence of intimate-partner violence against women.
Sexual violence has long been weaponised by occupying forces to inflict shame and social stigma on Palestinian communities.
Reports reveal that Palestinian women have been subjected to strip searches, forced nudity and sexual assaults, acts designed to humiliate and assert dominance.
According to Dania Akkad in the December 3 Middle East Eye, these assaults not only violate individual dignity but they perpetuate intergenerational trauma, with the mere threat of such violence reshaping the daily lives of women and girls.
Moreover, the hyper-sexualisation of Israeli female soldiers, often branded as “Combat Cuties”, perpetuates gendered propaganda that obscures state violence.
As Matilde Bufano critically analysed in her October 16 piece for Security Praxis, such portrayals claim to empower women in the military, but simultaneously fuel sexism, within the army ranks and the media.
This phenomenon epitomises the intertwining of a patriarchal system that commodifies women’s bodies to serve militaristic and colonial agendas.
It is not true empowerment but a co-opted version of feminism that upholds violent state structures, while masking their oppressive foundations.
The glorification of female soldiers in the Israeli military, framed as a symbol of “modernity” and “progress”, is an ideological distraction that sustains gender inequality and colonial violence.
Decolonising gender-based violence requires dismantling power imbalances, enforcing accountability and fostering feminist solidarities.
Yet, global solidarity, especially from Western feminists, often falls short.
As British Egyptian writer Yousra Samir Imran pointed out, many Western feminists have something to say about global injustices elsewhere — except Gaza.
Their silence on Gaza suggests selective activism and the belief that some lives are more worthy of advocacy than others.
For Palestinian women, this silence from mainstream white feminism is hurtful and disappointing. The crisis in Gaza is a feminist issue and a humanitarian one.
As we conclude the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, we must amplify the voices of Palestinian women who face unimaginable atrocities every day.
There is no more urgent matter than addressing the widespread massacre and genocide of innocent civilians in Gaza. To end violence, we must tackle multiple interconnected realities: the brutal occupation, its dehumanising violence against Palestinian men, women and children, and the intimate partner violence that women experience within their homes.
Feminist solidarity needed
All Palestinians deserve safety, freedom and dignity.
Ending this cycle of violence demands not only justice and accountability, but a global feminist solidarity that refuses to stay silent.
Feminist solidarity must be unwavering, inclusive and intersectional. It must transcend borders and confront oppression in all its forms.
The fight for Palestinian women’s liberation is deeply intertwined with the fight for global justice. As we call for global feminist solidarity, we must recognise that the struggle of Palestinian women against gender-based violence is intricately linked to their resistance against occupation and systemic oppression.
Let us commit to standing with our sisters in Gaza (and with all women in conflict zones around the world) through our words, our activism and our collective action.
Together, we can build a world where no woman’s suffering is ignored and no injustice is left unchallenged.
[Dr Nafiseh Ghafournia is a researcher and academic with a PhD in Social Policy and Gender Studies from the University of Sydney. At NSW Education Centre Against Violence, she serves as a senior state-wide domestic violence educator in the Western Sydney local health district. She also works as a lecturer, researcher and sessional academic at the University of Newcastle.]