Israeli forces ‘sexually assaulted, beat and insulted women’ during Gaza hospital raid

Israeli sexually assaulted forces Palestinian women and unarmed civilians executed during the day on Friday raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital in Gazawitnesses said in a new report.

Violence against women included stripping them, touching them under threat of violence, beating and sexually insulting them.

Their testimonies were collected by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and published on Saturday.

According to the report, dozens of women and girls detained during the raid suffered degrading abuse amounting to sexual violence.

In one incident, a soldier tore off a woman’s clothes, exposing her chest, after she refused to remove her hijab or headscarf.

Another victim said she was dragged by a soldier “who forced her to press against him”.

Recalling another incident, an unnamed woman said: “A soldier forced a nurse to take off her trousers and then put his hand on her. When she tried to resist, he punched her hard across the face, causing her nose to bleed.

“A soldier forced a nurse to take off her pants”

– Palestinian eyewitness

Another eyewitness said a soldier told a woman: “Take her down, or we will force you.”

A hospital staff member told the monitor: “The soldiers ordered us to take off our hijabs, but we refused. They then turned to the girls under 20 and asked them to remove their hijabs, but they also refused.

“The soldiers decided to punish us by taking two women at a time and forcing them to lift their clothes and pull down their pants under threats and coercion.”

Field executions

According to the Euro-Mediterranean monitor, eyewitnesses described other crimes committed by Israeli forces, such as the execution of unarmed patients and detainees, as well as the detonation of booby traps near homes.

A 41-year-old volunteer paramedic, referred to by the initials AA, said he survived the traps in his residence.

He also said he saw Israeli forces shoot and kill a man carrying a white flag.

When he was detained along with around 300 other men, they were taken to an open area near a cemetery and forced to strip to their underwear for hours, despite the cold.

“When a child with a psychological disorder went outside, he ran towards an Israeli tank. I called him, but he didn’t answer. They shot him dead immediately,” he recalled.

“There was an armored personnel carrier and a tank in the area. A soldier ordered us to gather at a certain place. Among us were five wounded people who were forced to walk in front of the tank. Suddenly, they were shot without any question,” he added.

Israeli troops stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last functioning health facility in northern Gaza, on Friday.

The incursion was preceded by a nearly three-month blockade that prevented aid, medicine and food from entering, as well as heavy shelling in and around the hospital compound.

During the raid, Israeli forces set fire to various departments, killing patients and medical workers inside, according to health officials.

The remaining doctors and patients, about 350 people, were forced to leave the hospital at gunpoint, half-naked.

“Among us were five injured people who were forced to walk in front of the tank. Suddenly they were shot dead without question’

– Palestinian eyewitness

Some were later released, but many remain in Israeli custody, including Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital.

The raid left northern Gaza without a functioning health center.

It is part of the Israeli offensive on northern Gaza, launched on October 5, which followed the presentation of a controversial proposal called the “Generals’ Plan” to the Israeli government.

The plan calls for the ethnic cleansing of areas north of the “Netzarim Corridor,” which bisects Gaza, so that Israel can establish a “closed military zone.”

“The occupation today deals the final blow to the remaining health system in northern Gaza,” the Ministry of Health said on Friday, following the raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital.

“This aligns perfectly with the generals’ plan to eliminate the population of the northern Gaza Strip.”