A shocking new report by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has exposed the systematic killing of Palestinian women in Gaza by Israeli forces, warning that the mass killing of women—particularly mothers and pregnant women—amounts to genocide under international law.

According to the Geneva-based organization, Israel has killed an average of 21.3 Palestinian women every day since its brutal war on the Gaza Strip began on October 7, 2023. This equates to nearly one woman per hour, highlighting what human rights advocates call a deliberate and coordinated campaign to eliminate Palestinian life and future generations.

The report, released on Monday, documents the deaths of 12,400 Palestinian women, including 7,920 mothers, during Israel’s 582-day military assault on Gaza. These figures, drawn from Gaza’s health authorities and Euro-Med’s field data, exclude additional deaths caused by starvation, medical neglect, or the ongoing blockade, which the group attributes to Israel’s policies as the occupying power.

“The unprecedented rate at which women are being killed reflects a deliberate Israeli pattern of mass killings targeting Palestinian women, especially mothers,” Euro-Med Monitor stated. The report argues that the intentional targeting of women of reproductive age, alongside the destruction of maternal healthcare and imposition of starvation, violates Article 2(d) of the 1948 Genocide Convention, which defines genocide as including “measures intended to prevent births within the group.”

The report highlights dire conditions for Gaza’s 60,000 pregnant women, who face malnutrition, dehydration, and a lack of medical care due to Israel’s bombing of hospitals and clinics and a total siege blocking essential supplies. “This is a calculated policy aimed at exterminating Palestinian life,” the organization warned.

Surviving women, particularly mothers, are enduring severe psychological trauma amid repeated displacement and chronic insecurity. Abeer H., a mother of four from Gaza City, described her plight: “I’ve been displaced over 10 times. My children fall asleep to bombings, and I cry, fearing they’ll be dead by morning. I’ve seen mothers and children slaughtered before my eyes.”

Euro-Med Monitor called for urgent global action, urging states and international bodies to enforce the Genocide Convention, pressure Israel to comply with International Court of Justice rulings, and ensure accountability for war crimes and genocide. “This is a methodical extermination campaign aimed at the Palestinian people’s existence, their mothers, their children, and their future,” the group declared.

The war, sparked by a Palestinian resistance operation in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has killed over 52,000 Palestinians, wounded 118,000, and left more than 14,000 missing, many presumed buried under rubble. A near-total blockade of aid, media, and humanitarian observers has fueled fears that the true scale of the catastrophe remains underreported. (ILKHA)