Sexual violence against Palestinians
Rubin Minhas, Neve Gordon, Mishal Khan, Nick Maynard and Gene Feder write in the BMJ on 13 October 2026:
Conflict related sexual violence (CRSV) occurs across conflict and coercive settings and can be perpetrated by state and non-state actors. Strong accountability for CRSV is required, regardless of who the victims or perpetrators are. In 2024, a UN mission found “reasonable grounds to believe” that CRSV, including rape, occurred during the Hamas led 7 October attacks and “clear and convincing information” that some hostages taken to Gaza experienced sexual violence.1 A UN Commission later concluded that acts committed during the attacks amounted to war crimes.2
Ill treatment of Palestinians, including sexualised violence, has been documented over decades.3456789 However, evidence of CRSV against Palestinians is dispersed across accounts of detention, gendered abuse, humiliation, displacement, and harms to children. We bring this evidence together to show why efforts to secure accountability must tackle sexual violence, regardless of setting.
In 2025, a UN Commission of Inquiry also found that specific forms of sexual and gender based violence “de facto form part of” Israeli security forces’ “standard operating procedures” towards Palestinians.10 It further concluded that sexualised torture, including rape and genital violence, was “committed with either explicit orders or an implicit encouragement by the top civilian and military leadership”; it also documented a broader pattern of sexual violence, torture, and other inhumane acts amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.10 In its 2026 report, the UN listed Israeli armed and security forces for suspected patterns of CRSV, providing a basis for more focused UN engagement on prevention and accountability.1112
Understanding CRSV requires attention to forms and patterns of violence, not only incident counts.1314151617 It includes rape, sexual torture, sexualised humiliation, and reproductive harm directly or indirectly linked to conflict.131416 CRSV often arises in coercive settings shaped by occupation, detention, displacement, obstructed access, and command tolerance or complicity.10131415161718 These conditions may impede disclosure, investigation, and accountability, thus fostering impunity.10131415161718 CRSV is underreported; evidence often comes from survivor testimony and human rights, medical, and international sources.131415161719
Detention and extreme power asymmetry
People in detention are at high risk of experiencing CRSV because extreme power asymmetry, dependency, and restricted oversight facilitate coercive control, dehumanisation, and sexual humiliation