Israel has been carrying out “reproductive genocide” against the Palestinian people for decades through the destruction of medical infrastructure, the killing of women and children, and the creation of environmental conditions that cause infertility, according to a new report.
The 188-page report by the Palestine Feminist Collective, produced with support from Progressive International and titled “A Predatory State: Israeli Systematic Sexualized and Gendered Violence Against Palestinians,” said these practices accelerated after the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
Last week, the UN’s top investigative body on Israel and Palestine concluded that Israeli forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children as a central component of the assault on Gaza.
The UN report documented sniper and drone strikes on children, torture in detention, reproductive violence, and the destruction of schools and hospitals. Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 21,000 Palestinian children, the report said. An estimated 5,160 more are believed buried under rubble. By October 2024, at least 15,000 children had lost their mothers.
In one documented incident, Israeli forces cut electricity to al-Nasr Children’s Hospital, causing the death of four newborns. Their decomposing bodies were later found still attached to deactivated life-support machines.
At the start of the military campaign, the UN estimated there were 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, with 5,500 births per month. Many required emergency medical care that Israeli military operations made impossible.
Miscarriage rates increased by more than 300 percent. Severe malnutrition, anemia, and the lack of essential prenatal medication sharply increased the risks of premature births, low birth weight, and fatal hemorrhaging during delivery.
The report, based on research conducted from December 2025 to April 2026, drew on survivor and witness testimony, declassified Israeli documents, Palestinian oral histories, and academic and legal analysis. It also documented the blocking of clean water, sanitary pads, and basic necessities, forcing many Palestinian women to use birth control pills or homemade pads to manage menstruation.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report