Israeli forces sexually assaulted Palestinian women and executed unarmed civilians during the Friday raid on Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, witnesses have said in a new report.
The violence against women included stripping off their clothes, touching them under the threat of violence, beating them and hurling sexual insults at them.
Their testimonies were collected by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and published on Saturday.
According to the report, dozens of women and girls detained during the raid received degrading abuse that amounts to sexual violence.
In one incident, a soldier tore the clothes of a woman, exposing her chest, after she refused to remove her hijab, or headscarf.
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Another victim said she was dragged by a soldier “who forced her to press against him”.
Recalling a different incident, an unnamed woman said: “A soldier forced a nurse to take off her trousers, then placed his hand on her. When she tried to resist, he struck her hard across the face, causing her nose to bleed.”
‘A soldier forced a nurse to take off her trousers’
– Palestinian eyewitness
Another eyewitness said a soldier told a woman: “Take it off, or we’ll force it off you.”
A hospital staff member told the monitor: “The soldiers ordered us to remove our hijabs, but we refused. They then turned to the girls under 20 years old and demanded they 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 lower their trousers under threats and coercion.”
Field executions
According to the Euro-Med monitor, eyewitnesses described other crimes by Israeli forces, such as executing patients and unarmed detainees, as well as detonating booby-trapped robots near homes.
A 41-year-old volunteer paramedic, referred to by the initials AA, said he survived the booby-trapping of his residence.
He also said he saw Israeli forces shooting and killing a man carrying a white flag.
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When he was detained alongside around 300 other men, they were taken to an open area near a cemetery and forced to strip down to their underwear for hours despite the cold.
“When a child with a psychological disorder stepped out, he ran towards an Israeli tank. I called out to him, but he didn’t respond. They shot him dead immediately,” he recalled.
“There was an armoured personnel carrier and a tank in the area. A soldier ordered us to gather at a specific spot. Among us were five injured individuals who were forced to walk in front of the tank. Suddenly, they were shot dead without any questioning,” he added.
Israeli troops stormed the Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last functioning health facility in north Gaza, on Friday.
The incursion was preceded by nearly three months of a blockade preventing the entry of aid, medicine and food, as well as heavy bombardment in the hospital’s complex and vicinity.
During the raid, Israeli forces burnt different departments, killing patients and medical workers inside, according to health officials.
The remaining doctors and patients, roughly 350 people, were forced out of the hospital at gunpoint, semi-naked.
‘Among us were five injured individuals who were forced to walk in front of the tank. Suddenly, they were shot dead without any questioning’
– Palestinian eyewitness
Some were later released but many remain in Israeli custody, including Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital.
The raid has left northern Gaza without any functioning healthcare centres.
It is part of the Israeli offensive on northern Gaza, launched on 5 October, which followed the presentation of a controversial proposal named the “Generals’ Plan” to the Israeli government.
The plan calls for ethnically cleansing areas north of the “Netzarim corridor”, which divides Gaza in two, so Israel would be able to establish a “closed military zone”.
“The occupation is delivering the final blow to the remaining healthcare system in northern Gaza today,” the health ministry said on Friday, following the raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital.
“This aligns perfectly with the generals’ plan to eliminate the population in the northern Gaza Strip.”
