On July 10, 2023, five Palestinian women were forced to strip naked in front of Israeli soldiers during a house raid in the occupied city of Al-Khalil (Hebron). A recent report on the incident was published in early September by the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem.
According to the report, soldiers accompanied by military dogs entered the home of a Palestinian family in the early hours of the morning. During the raid, two female soldiers with rifles and an attack dog reportedly forced five women of the family to undress, threatening to unleash the dog if they refused.
The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation strongly condemns these actions, which are anything but random. Time and time again, women and girls in the Occupied Palestinian Territories experience abuse and violations of their human rights due to Israel’s military occupation and aggression. The degrading treatment that five of these women were forced to endure on July 10th are nothing but a display of power and a blatant attack on the rights and dignity of Palestinian women.
The Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD), one of The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation’s partner organisations, has published a press release on the situation.
“The Crime against women in Hebron, despite its high level of atrocity, is not the first against Palestinian women. Palestinian women in Israeli prisons are subject to similar humiliating acts and degrading treatment. Degrading Palestinians in general and women in particular, is recurring within the daily practices of the Israeli occupation,” writes PWWSD.
“Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development is demanding the United Nations, represented by His Excellency, Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Gutters, to interfere immediately and end the crimes of the occupation. The Organization calls upon immediate protection of Palestinian women within the frame of Women’s Peace and Agenda that are under the patronage of the United Nations. It is clear that as long as the Occupation continues, the crimes against Palestinian women will continue.”
We stand in solidarity with our local partner organisations and with those affected by Israeli occupation and aggression, including women and girls who are amongst those most vulnerable. The international community must put a stop to these abuses, hold perpetrators accountable and end the crimes of Israeli occupation once and for all.
—The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation