This policy brief is developed as part of a collaborative project, titled ‘Emancipatory Human Rights’, between the Muwatin Institute for Democracy and Human Rights at Birzeit University and the Law and Development Research Group at the Faculty of Law, University of Antwerp.
The brief explores the gendered dimensions of Israel’s settler-colonial and genocidal violence in Palestine, particularly in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. It does so within the framework of the Genocide Convention, while also engaging with broader dynamics of patriarchy, racial supremacy, and colonial domination and elimination. It emphasises that gender, distinct from biological sex, is central to the continuity and preservation of the group’s life.
In settler-colonial-genocidal settings, violence targeting gender roles and reproductive functions is not incidental but rather a strategic modality and tactic of war to achieve the group’s destruction. Israel’s actions in Gaza, particularly the targeting of both women and men based on their societal and reproductive roles, exemplify how gendered strategies of violence contribute to the broader intent of genocide.
Israel’s use of gendered violence in Gaza reflects a deliberate and systematic strategy of population destruction, rooted in settler-colonialism and patriarchal domination. It forms part of the nearly century-long Palestinian Nakba; an ongoing process aimed at removing and eliminating the native population through various barbaric means, in order to replace it with a settler population and fundamentally alter the identity, landscape, and demographic composition of Palestine.
The analysis identifies key patterns of gendered genocidal acts, including killing members of the group; inflicting serious bodily and mental harm, including mass maiming and trauma; torture and sexual violence, including rape, forced nudity, and genital mutilation of detainees; deliberately inflicting life-threatening conditions, such as famine, forced displacement, and health infrastructure collapse; and, preventing births, through attacks on reproductive health, IVF clinics, and the fertility of both men and women.
The brief draws on international jurisprudence, including Akayesu (ICTR), Krstić (ICTY), and South Africa v. Israel (ICJ), to underline the legal validity of recognizing gendered acts as genocide. It argues that ignoring these dimensions obscures the perpetrator’s intent and undermines prevention, accountability, and reparation efforts.
The brief concludes by presenting a set of recommendations to Belgium, in light of its declared intention to intervene in South Africa v. Israel, to advance a comprehensive legal approach that fully incorporates gendered strategies and harms into genocide accountability frameworks.