NGOs have identified at least 16 cases of conflict-related sexual violence attributed to Israeli settlers and soldiers.
Posted on: April 21, 2026
Sexual violence and other forms of gender-based abuse committed by Israeli settlers and soldiers are helping Palestinians flee the occupied West Bank, according to the report.
Researchers from the West Bank Protection Consortium detailed at least 16 incidents of conflict-related sexual violence committed by Israeli settlers and soldiers, according to a report released Monday. Sexual violence and forced migration in the West Bank: How gender dynamics of exploitation lead to displacement.
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“The evidence shows how sexual violence is used to exert pressure on communities, shape decisions to remain or leave homes and land, and change patterns of daily life,” the report said.
Researchers found a rise in incidents of “sexual harassment, intimidation and humiliation” and warned that the true number of attacks is likely still being underreported.
The West Bank Protection Consortium is a partnership of several international humanitarian organizations.
The report is based on interviews with 83 Palestinians from 10 communities in the Jordan Valley, South Hebron Hills and the central West Bank.
The researchers found that more than 70% of refugees interviewed said threats to women and children, especially sexual violence, were the main reason they left their homes.
“In response, families adopt gender-specific protection strategies, including partial displacement of women and children and early marriage, in an effort to reduce exposure to harm,” the text states.
intimate space surveillance
Interviewees reported incidents of sexual harassment, including sexual insults, indecent exposure, threats of sexual violence, and surveillance of private spaces, including bedrooms.
Other participants described how Palestinians were stripped, beaten and urinated on, while the attackers shared images of the abuse.
The report said that Israeli soldiers on the scene during the incident failed to prevent or prevent the attack, and failed to properly investigate it.
Last week, the Israeli military approved the return of five soldiers accused of sexually assaulting Palestinian prisoners at the notorious Sde Teiman camp to reservists after their charges were dismissed.
Soldiers from Force 100, tasked with guarding military prisons, have been reinstated despite an ongoing internal military investigation into their actions.
Human rights groups condemned the decision as a legal injustice, and Amnesty International called it “yet another unconscionable chapter in the long history of the Israeli legal system granting impunity to perpetrators of serious crimes against Palestinians.”
