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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">UN experts accuse 'Israel' of genocide, sexual violence in Gaza</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Al Mayadeen English</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">March 13, 2025</div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><p>Israeli attacks not only resulted in the loss of critical health infrastructure but also led to physical and mental scars.</p><img src="cid:ii_m87r8dvs0" alt="6f83b35f-cfdb-4453-947c-d14a1dd840b1.jpeg" width="394" height="232"><br><div><ul id="gmail-content-slick-0"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
<span>Damages at the Al-Basma clinic are shown following Israeli shelling. (Dr. Ghalayini/Al-Basma Clinic)</span>
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<p>"Israel’s" actions in Gaza meet the definition of genocidal acts, a
United Nations investigation concluded on Thursday. The report stressed
that "Israel" deliberately targeted and destroyed critical sexual and
reproductive healthcare facilities, which are essential for safe
pregnancies, deliveries, and neonatal care. It further accused Israeli
forces of using <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/the-gaza-trials--israeli-immunity-from-sexual-violence-prose" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sexual violence</a> as a war strategy, including forced stripping, sexual harassment, and <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/harrowing-accounts-of-torture--abuse--and-rape-inside-israel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rape</a>, contributing to severe and long-lasting trauma for Palestinian women and young girls.</p>
<p>The UN Commission of Inquiry reported that "Israel intentionally
attacked and destroyed" Gaza's primary fertility center while
simultaneously imposing a siege that blocked humanitarian aid, including
medication crucial for safe pregnancies, deliveries, and neonatal care.</p>
<p>"Israel" has alleged that the reports are “unfounded", but the
commission found that "Israel's" actions had severely impacted the
reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza. The commission outlined
two categories of genocidal acts: "deliberately inflicting on the group
conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction"
and "imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group."</p>
<h2>'Israel' inflicted deep physical, mental scars on Palestinian women and girls</h2>
<p>The commission’s chair, Navi Pillay, stated that these violations
caused "severe immediate physical and mental harm and suffering to women
and girls," with "irreversible long-term effects on the mental health
and reproductive and fertility prospects of Palestinians."</p>
<p>The report also detailed the destruction of the Al-Basma IVF Centre,
Gaza's main in-vitro fertility clinic, in December 2023. The attack
reportedly destroyed around 4,000 embryos, and the commission found no
credible evidence suggesting that the clinic had any military purpose.
It concluded that the attack was aimed at preventing births among
Palestinians, constituting a genocidal act.</p>
<p>The commission further noted that the broader impact on pregnant,
lactating, and new mothers was unprecedented, with irreversible
consequences for the reproductive future of Gaza’s population. These
acts were described as crimes against humanity, with the commission
concluding that "Israel's" actions were an attempt to destroy the
Palestinian group as a whole.</p>
<p>Following public hearings in Geneva, the commission also reported that "Israel" had directly targeted <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/palestinians-sexually-assaulted--beaten-in-israeli-prisons" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Palestinian women and girls</a>
with acts of sexual violence, including forced stripping, sexual
harassment, and assault. Women and girls have died from complications
related to pregnancy and childbirth due to the blockade, and the
commission categorized these acts as crimes against humanity and the war
crime of willful killing.</p>
<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--after-every-form-of-life-in-gaza--destroys-4-000-iv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'Israel' after every form of life in Gaza, destroys 4,000 IVF embryos</a></strong></p>
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