The Hidden Genocide: UN Condemns Israeli Attacks On Gaza’s Maternity Wards And IVF Clinics
A chilling new report by the United Nations has declared that Israeli attacks on Gaza’s women’s health facilities — including maternity wards and an IVF clinic — may constitute “genocidal acts”.
The findings draw global attention to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) violations committed in conflict zones, particularly against Palestinian women and children.
The 49-page report, presented by the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry, paints a harrowing picture of systemic violence. It states that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has deliberately targeted healthcare services essential to reproductive health, actions that “destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group”.
The commission concludes that these actions fall under two categories of genocide as outlined in the Rome Statute and Genocide Convention: “deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction” and “imposing measures intended to prevent births”.
The destruction of Gaza’s sole IVF clinic, along with repeated attacks on maternity wards and severe restrictions on medical and food supplies, reflects a calculated effort to dismantle the reproductive future of an entire population. More than 48,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the escalation of the war in October 2023 — one-third of them women and girls.
“This is not just about bombs and bullets. It is about deliberately denying women and families the right to give life,” said Navi Pillay, chair of the UN commission. “It is a brutal assault on reproductive rights.”
The report also documents sexual and gender-based violence used systematically by Israeli forces. This includes public stripping, sexualised torture, rape, and threats of sexual violence — described as “standard operating procedures”. Such acts were reportedly used to humiliate, dominate, and punish Palestinian detainees, both men and women.
“The frequency, prevalence, and severity of sexual and gender-based crimes… lead the commission to conclude that sexual and gender-based violence is increasingly used as a method of war,” the report states.
In many instances, the violence was captured and shared online, amplifying the trauma and adding a layer of psychological warfare. These tactics, the report warns, may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Although one soldier has been sentenced to seven months for assault, impunity remains the norm. “The lack of meaningful investigation and prosecution sends a clear message to Israeli forces — that such acts carry no consequences,” Pillay said.
From an SRHR perspective, the consequences are catastrophic. Beyond the immediate death toll, the targeting of reproductive health services deepens long-term trauma, destabilises families, and strips women of bodily autonomy.
As the global outcry grows, the report stresses the need for international accountability, calling on the International Criminal Court and national courts to act.
“This report is not just a document. It’s a call for justice, a call to protect women’s and children’s rights in conflict,” said an SRHR advocate in Bangladesh. “We must treat these attacks as violations of basic human rights — not collateral damage.”
Source: The Guardian
Picture Credit: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
