UN Report: More Than a Human Can Bear

UNHRC details Israel’s systematic use of sexual violence and torture against Palestinian detainees.

A newly released UN report has exposed some of the most horrifying allegations of genocide against Israel to date. The United Nations often presents itself as the world’s forum for addressing human rights violations. Yet, when it comes to holding nations accountable—particularly Israel—it repeatedly stumbles at the final hurdle or is deliberately obstructed by the veto power of a certain permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Genocide Taking Place
The latest damning report from the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, delivers a severe indictment of Israel’s actions, presenting compelling evidence that genocide is indeed taking place. Yet, while the world focuses on the more overt atrocities in Gaza, a far more insidious crime has been unfolding—Israel’s systematic assault on Palestinian reproductive rights, deliberately obstructing their ability to build families and communities.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s response has been predictably dismissive, resorting to tired accusations of UN bias and branding the report a “blood libel.” But these reflexive denials no longer hold weight. His relentless insistence that Israel is never at fault, paired with his habitual weaponization of identity politics, is wearing thin. Given the overwhelming evidence of Israel’s actions in Gaza—and now these additional accusations—has there ever been a leader more brazenly dishonest, governing a state more relentlessly deceptive?

Systematic Attacks on Reproductive Rights
The UN report, just released, is the result of a comprehensive investigation into Israel’s conduct in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, particularly in Gaza. The report highlights Israel’s systematic attacks on Palestinian reproductive healthcare, including the targeting of hospitals, clinics, and maternity wards. These attacks have resulted in the deaths of pregnant women, the destruction of medical infrastructure, and a severe lack of access to essential reproductive services.

The report also documents instances of sexual violence perpetrated by Israeli forces, including rape and other forms of gender-based violence. The findings paint a picture of a deliberate and coordinated effort to undermine the reproductive rights of Palestinians, with devastating consequences for women and children. These actions are part of a broader pattern of violence and oppression aimed at eroding the Palestinian population’s ability to survive and thrive. This includes restrictions on access to food, water, and medical supplies, as well as the destruction of homes and infrastructure.

No Crime Has Been Documented This Well While It’s Happening
The findings are staggering. Yet, perhaps even more shocking than the abuses themselves is the near-total silence from the so-called international community. Where is the outrage? Where are the sanctions? If these crimes had been committed by any other state, would the response be as muted? The danger now is not just the crimes themselves, but the risk that the world becomes desensitized—that these horrors are accepted as just another grim headline. To allow this to become normal is to accept the unacceptable.

No crime in modern history has been as well-documented while it is happening as this one. With extensive video evidence, testimonies, and reports, the atrocities committed against Palestinian detainees are not hidden—they are unfolding in real-time, in full view of the world. The absence of action is not due to a lack of evidence but to a deliberate choice to ignore it.

Key Findings from the Report:

• Sexual Torture and Rape: Palestinian detainees—both men and women—were subjected to rape, sexual humiliation, and brutal physical abuse, often leading to severe injuries.

• Threats of Rape Against Women and Children: Female detainees were threatened with gang rape, often in front of their families. One woman was told by a soldier: “How do you want us to rape you? One by one or all together?”

• A Pregnant Woman and Her Daughters Threatened with Rape: "A pregnant woman detained near her home in Hebron was reportedly threatened by male soldiers with rape. The threats were also directed at her daughters, aged three and four, who were present at the time."

• Extreme Physical Torture: Detainees were suspended from ceilings, beaten with metal tools, electrocuted, and even had sharp objects inserted into their genitals. One male detainee suffered a ruptured rectum after being assaulted with a sharp object.

• Dehumanisation of Prisoners: Female detainees were forced to strip in public, and menstruating women were mocked while being repeatedly strip-searched. Others were beaten until they lost consciousness.

• Official Endorsement of Rape and Torture: Israeli politicians and military figures have defended soldiers accused of these crimes. When asked whether it was legitimate to “insert a stick into a person’s rectum”, a Knesset member replied: “If he is a Nukhba [Hamas militant], everything is legitimate to do. Everything.”

Dehumanisation
We have seen a number of pictures of Israeli male soldiers posing in the clothes of Palestinian women they have displaced or killed. This further exemplifies the dehumanisation and psychological violence at the heart of this systematic abuse. This act is not just an isolated incident; it mirrors the broader pattern of sexual violence and humiliation documented in the report. Palestinian women in Israeli custody have been subjected to rape, sexual torture, and threats of sexual violence—acts designed to break them both physically and psychologically.

Posing in the clothes of women who have suffered or been killed is a disturbing extension of this culture of domination, where the physical violence becomes a tool for asserting control, reducing women to mere symbols of conquest. It reinforces a mentality that strips away their identity and humanity, deepening the trauma and instilling fear. This form of psychological violence aims not only to control but to erase the very essence of Palestinian women, further entrenching the culture of impunity and cruelty.

The Danger of Normalisation
The evidence of Israel’s systematic use of sexual violence and torture is overwhelming. Yet, there has been little to no meaningful response from Western governments or international institutions. The same voices that claim to champion human rights remain eerily silent when the victims are Palestinians.

Where are the emergency UN Security Council meetings? Where are the calls for sanctions? Where is the international media’s wall-to-wall coverage? The hypocrisy is blatant.

But beyond the lack of action, there is an even greater danger: that the world stops being shocked. That the horror fades into the background, swallowed by the never-ending cycle of atrocities. We cannot allow this to happen. To become numb is to become complicit.

As one survivor put it: “It was a lot for me, it was a lot for women. It’s more than a human can bear.”

This report does not just document individual crimes—it lays bare the deep-seated impunity that allows Israel to commit atrocities without consequence. If the world continues to turn a blind eye, history will judge this silence as complicity.

The question now is: will anyone act? And will we, as a society, refuse to let this horror become just another forgotten crime?

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Article Series Zionism