“More than a human can bear”: Report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory on sexual violence, 13 March 2025

On March 13th, 2025, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged violations of human rights and humanitarian law, issued the report “More than a human can bear”: Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023 (A/HRC/58/CRP.6).

The Independent Commission, after examining the destruction and disproportionate violence against women and children as a war method, demonstrates detailed allegations of widespread sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by Israeli forces against Palestinians, since October 7th, 2023. 

The report claims that these actions are part of a broader strategy to undermine Palestinian self-determination, by terrorising and oppressing the population, and includes accusations of genocidal acts through the destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities in Gaza.

The Commission also investigates the different forms of sexual and gender-based violence directed at Palestinian men and women, with the intent to oppress and destroy the Palestinian population in whole or in part.

The Commission's findings indicate that more severe forms of sexual violence, such as rape and genital assault, were allegedly committed under explicit orders or with implicit encouragement from Israel's top civilian and military leadership. The report also highlights a climate of impunity regarding sexual crimes committed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Moreover, the destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities in Gaza has led to deaths from pregnancy and childbirth complications due to lack of access to reproductive healthcare and humanitarian assistance.

The report declares that these actions amount to genocidal acts, as defined by the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention, by "deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians and imposing measures intended to prevent births."

Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission, states that the lack of healthcare assistance together with starvation as a method of war “have not only caused severe immediate physical and mental harm and suffering to women and girls, but irreversible long-term effects on the mental health and reproductive and fertility prospects of Palestinians as a group.”

As a consequence, the Commission found an unprecedented increase in female deaths in Gaza as a result of Israeli strategy.

The report concludes with a number of recommendations to the State of Israel, which include ending occupations and targeting civilians, restoring and ensuring access to reproductive healthcare facilities, ceasing all forms of sexual and gender-based violence, implementing protocols to combat discrimination based on gender and nationality, and investigating and prosecuting these crimes. 

The report also contains recommendations addressed to all Member States of the international community to comply with all international legal obligations and to avenues of accountability under domestic law or universal jurisdiction and support international justice efforts; and, for States Parties to the International Criminal Court, ensure full compliance with the arrest warrants issued by the Court.