One year on, Israel continues to target the strongest weapon of Palestine: the female womb

It has been one year since the start of Israel's genocide in Gaza, and it is hard to believe we are still here.

For one year, the world has witnessed Israel's relentless bombings of schools and hospitals, a second Nakba, and the destruction of livelihoods, all supposedly in the name of fighting Hamas.

While all of this has been taking place, Palestinians have also been subjected to dehumanisation, including control through the use of AI at checkpoints. 

This brutality has been highly evident against women, with nearly half of the 41,000 Palestinians killed, being women and children.

Through social media, the world has seen posts where Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers share pictures of themselves in women’s underwear and mock pregnant women during ultrasound scans.

Additionally, videos have shown Israeli soldiers assaulting Palestinian captives, with numerous testimonies from Palestinians about experiencing sexual violence by these soldiers.

While enduring this dehumanisation, women have also been killed at alarming rates. As one would expect, this mass killing of women, including their children, opened the world's eyes to the brutality of the IDF.

In February 2024, UN experts raised concerns about human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since 7 October.

At the time of reporting, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that Palestinian women and girls have “reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children.”

This statement naturally raises questions about why Israel seems focused on deliberately targeting Palestinian women and children, even in areas where they seek safety.

At the same time, the violence against women and their children should not be surprising; for centuries, the IDF has sought to undermine Palestine’s most powerful weapon: the Palestinian womb.

One year on, The New Arab provides a breakdown of how this weapon has been targeted for destruction, highlighting the historical context behind the deliberate assault on Palestinian women's reproductive power.

Numbers we know so far 

On 30 September 2024, Oxfam International announced that “more women and children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military than in any other recent conflict in a single year.” 

These numbers are unfathomable, as are the other statistics we have seen since 7 October, including:

• 6,000 women and 11,000 children killed in Gaza by the IDF over the past year
• 5,000 embryos destroyed at the Al Basma Fertility Clinic
• A 300% increase in the miscarriage rate in Gaza since 7 October
• Only 2 of the 12 partially functioning hospitals in Gaza were able to provide maternity services, down from 36 hospitals before 7 October
• As of December 2023, over 155,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women were at high risk of malnutrition — a number likely to have increased since then

'Palestine as a woman and women as Palestine'

Following the 1948 Nakba, Palestinian thinkers explored the link between women’s liberation and national liberation. The metaphor of "Palestine as a woman and women as Palestine" became important in the struggle against Israeli occupation, showing how women’s roles as mothers are integral to resistance.

Palestinian women’s lives have often been shaped by traditional roles, where they are seen mainly as homemakers and mothers.

However, after the Nakba, as Palestinians faced increasing military control by Israeli forces, many women took on new roles as fighters, professionals, and community leaders.

Even with these changes, having children has remained a crucial part of their identity and their national struggle.

This connection between motherhood and resistance is recognised in the Palestinian national movement, which acknowledges the crucial role women play as the mothers of the nation. For the resistance, the womb is seen as a powerful symbol that can preserve the continuity of the community.

In the words of the late leader Yasser Arafat, the "womb of the Palestinian woman" is the "strongest weapon against Zionism."

Palestinian reproduction as a "demographic threat”

Reflecting on Arafat’s words, it is no surprise that Israel considers Palestinian women’s ability to have children as a "demographic threat."

To maintain demographic superiority, the IDF has subjected Palestinian women to violence aimed at undermining their cultural and biological reproduction.

Methods include denying access to reproductive health services, destroying medical facilities, and committing acts of violence against women, such as humiliation, physical abuse, and rape.

For years, and especially since the onset of the genocide in Gaza, the actions of the IDF have had devastating consequences for women's health and childbirth experiences.

Many women in Gaza have faced traumatic deliveries without anaesthesia, and ongoing power outages in hospitals mean that doctors often rely on phone flashlights to perform surgeries. Moreover, the ongoing bombardment has heightened the risks of miscarriages and premature births, exacerbated by the extreme stress and fear that pregnant women face.

Tragically, many newborns have died shortly after birth due to a lack of electricity and fuel needed for incubators. The blockade on Gaza has also severely limited access to clean water, forcing some women to undergo unnecessary hysterectomies to manage postpartum bleeding. Furthermore, widespread hunger has made it increasingly difficult for mothers to produce milk for breastfeeding.

To further Israel's demographic goals, the IDF has targeted IVF centres, destroying the 5,000 embryos mentioned earlier. For instance, Gaza's largest IVF centre, the Al Basma Center, was the site of this destruction, leaving countless dreams of parenthood shattered for many women who had hoped for children for nearly three decades.

Colonisers do not own or control Palestinian bodies 

Alarmingly, the ongoing destruction has put future generations of girls and their ability to have children in serious danger. Currently, nearly one million displaced women and girls in Gaza face severe challenges in accessing basic hygiene products, worsening their already dire living conditions.

Many women have had to use makeshift materials, such as strips of their tents or clothing, as sanitary pads. Additionally, some are taking norethisterone tablets, which are typically prescribed for menstrual disorders, to halt their menstrual cycles. The extreme stress and lack of food over the past months have also disrupted these cycles for many women.

With this attempt to disrupt the reproductive power of future generations, it is hard not to feel heartbroken about what is happening to these women and young girls.

Amid feelings of heartbreak, we must not lose hope for these women.

As we wait for the genocide to end, we need to recognise that, despite their shattered lives, Palestinian women are not powerless. Their struggles show their strength, proving that they cannot be defeated and that colonisers do not own or control their bodies.

The strength of Palestinian women is beautifully expressed in the words of the late poet Fadwa Tuqan, who once said:

"My sister, our land has a throbbing heart,
it doesn't cease to beat, and it endures
the unendurable. It keeps the secrets
of hills and wombs. This land, sprouting
with spikes and palms, is also the land
that gives birth to a freedom-fighter.
This land, my sister, is a woman."

Cover illustration by Dania K. Follow her work on Instagram: @cestdania

Zainab Mehdi is The New Arab's Associate Editor and researcher specialising in governance, development, and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa region

Follow her on X: @zaiamehdi