Israeli Soldiers Use Sexual Assault to Evict Palestinians

Human rights and legal experts report that Israeli soldiers and settlers are utilizing gendered violence, sexual assault, and harassment to force Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank.

A report titled “Sexual violence and forcible transfer in the West Bank” details escalating sexualized attacks and humiliation of Palestinians inside their homes and communities since 2023.

Researchers for the West Bank Protection Consortium recorded 16 cases of conflict-related sexual violence over the last three years. Experts noted this figure likely represents significant under-reporting due to the shame and stigma survivors face.

According to the report, sexualized violence is used to shape decisions about remaining on ancestral land and to alter patterns of daily life. More than two-thirds of surveyed households identified rising violence against women and children, including the harassment of girls, as the tipping point in their decision to leave their homes.

Documented Abuses and Forced Displacement

Reported abuses include forced nudity, invasive and painful body cavity searches, and instances of Israelis exposing their genitals to Palestinians, including minors. Other reports detail individuals being urinated upon and the distribution of humiliating photographs of stripped and bound individuals.

In one documented case, a woman described being subjected to a painful internal search by two female soldiers who entered her home with settlers. She reported being ordered to remove her clothes and being touched in intimate areas while derogatory comments were made.

Men and boys have also been targeted. In one instance, 29-year-old Qusai Abu al-Kebash was stripped by settlers in the northern Jordan valley community of Khirbet Humsa, who then placed a zip tie on his genitals and beat him in front of witnesses.

In October 2023, settlers and soldiers stripped, handcuffed, and beat Palestinians from the village of Wadi as-Seeq. Witnesses reported that perpetrators urinated on the victims, attempted to rape one individual with a broom handle, and publicly distributed photographs of the naked victims.

Societal Impacts and Community Fragmentation

The Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) has documented the use of sexualized harassment to fragment and displace communities. Reports include forced penetration during searches and soldiers molesting girls at checkpoints.

These threats have forced girls to quit school and women to stop working to avoid contact with potential attackers. Kifaya Khraim, advocacy unit manager at WCLAC, stated that her team likely knows of only a small fraction of the actual cases due to the difficulty of earning community trust.

The violence has also contributed to a rise in early marriages. Parents, desperate to protect their daughters, have arranged weddings for girls between the ages of 15 and 17 to move them away from the threats.

Culture of Impunity and Sexual Violence in the West Bank

Milena Ansari, head of the occupied Palestinian territory department at Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, stated that these attacks are occurring within a broader culture of impunity. She pointed to a recent decision to drop charges against soldiers for the filmed rape of an inmate at the Sde Teiman centre as a signal that such violence is being “green-lit.”

Ansari noted that there has been a lack of clear opposition to such acts from top leadership, asserting that there is an existing culture of accepting sexualized assault against Palestinians.

The failure to prosecute settlers has led former prime minister Ehud Olmert to call for the International Criminal Court to intervene to protect Palestinians from “Jewish terrorists.”

The findings are based on 83 interviews with Palestinian communities, including those already forced to flee their homes. The Israel Defense Forces did not respond to questions regarding the allegations of sexual abuse by soldiers.