“Insulting to Palestinian women.” Condemnations of clips published by Israeli soldiers in Gaza

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned footage published by Israeli occupation army soldiers having fun in women's underwear from inside homes in the Gaza Strip, noting that publishing such footage constitutes an insult to Palestinian women and all women.

Footage published by Israeli occupation army soldiers having fun in women's underwear from inside homes in the Gaza Strip sparked a wave of criticism and angry reactions.

On Thursday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned these violations.

Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said, "Publishing such footage constitutes an insult to Palestinian women and to all women."

Dozens of clips were spread on the Internet, filmed by soldiers from the occupation army, of members of the forces in the Gaza Strip displaying pieces of women’s underwear and playing with fashion dolls while they were naked or wearing some of these pieces. The underwear photos received tens of thousands of views, and in one case approached half a million views, after they were published by Younis Al-Tirawi, who describes himself as a Palestinian reporter.

After he was asked to do so, Al-Tirawi provided links to the original posts made by Israeli soldiers, which he re-published to his more than 100,000 followers on the X platform, between February 23 and March 1.

The Israeli occupation army declined to comment on this footage or say whether any of the soldiers responsible had been subjected to discipline, according to Reuters.

Violation of the Geneva Convention

Ardi Imses, assistant professor of law at Queen's University in Canada, says that these publications violate Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the rules for the treatment of civilians in times of war.

This clause stipulates that civilians have the right to respect for their honor, family rights, religious beliefs, customs and traditions. Women in particular must be protected against any attack on their honour.

Since October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip that has left tens of thousands of civilians martyred and injured, most of them children and women, a humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv appearing before the International Court of Justice on charges of “genocide.”