Palestine calls on international community to ensure protection of Palestinian women

Palestine on Saturday called on the international community to take responsibility for ensuring protection for Palestinian women and affirming their right to live in safety and peace.

“Palestinian woman stands at the heart of the struggle for survival, bearing the greatest burden of genocide, crimes against humanity, and attempts at forced displacement and ethnic cleansing,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on International Women's Day.

The ministry highlighted that “over 519 days of Israel's war on Gaza have resulted in the killings of more than 12,298 women, with thousands more subjected to forced displacement.”

Additionally, 21 Palestinian women are currently held in “harsh and inhumane conditions in Israeli prisons, where they endure torture, solitary confinement, and medical neglect,” according to the ministry.

The ministry also condemned Israel's “obstruction of urgent humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, and essential supplies for women and girls, further exacerbating their suffering amid ongoing genocide.”

The ministry called for international committees to “conduct a thorough investigation into the systematic violence against Palestinian women” and to hold Israel accountable for its “crimes and violations, including settler terrorism.”

Israel halted the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza on March 2 as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to start negotiations on the second phase of a three-phase ceasefire deal between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

A ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement has been in place in Gaza since Jan. 19, halting Israel's brutal war, which has killed over 48,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.