'Femi-genocide': UN expert Reem Alsalem says Israel targeting Palestinian women and girls in Gaza

By 9 July 2025, women and girls accounted for 67% of the 57,680 Palestinians the UN estimated had been killed in Israel’s ongoing genocide. Some experts believe this figure is a significant underrepresentation, particularly as the number of deaths continues to rise.

As for the women and girls who are still alive, Gaza’s destroyed health infrastructure means around 150,000 pregnant and lactating women lack essential care, while approximately 17,000 women and 60,000 children under five suffer from acute malnutrition amid a famine caused by Israeli forces blocking aid.

In addition, 50,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured since October 2023, causing unspeakable trauma for their mothers.

Without a doubt, these figures are disturbing, but for UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls Reem Alsalem, they cannot be ignored.

That is why, in her latest report titled Sex-based Violence Against Women and Girls: New Frontiers and Emerging Issues, Reem has reinforced the accusation of genocide against Israel under international law.

“What is happening to Palestinian women and girls is the intentional destruction of their existence and bodies, for being Palestinian and for being women,” she notes, making clear that reproductive violence is being used as a genocidal tool by Israel in Gaza.

Ultimately, for Reem, the horrors in Gaza amount to what she calls a 'femi-genocide' carried out by Israel, which she elaborates on further in her report. The New Arab spoke with her to explore its implications and findings.

The New Arab: How did you reach the conclusions in your report?

Reem: It is important to note that I first stated, in November 2023, that reproductive violence was being used as a genocidal tool. I had already pointed out my belief that the acts committed by Israel constituted genocidal acts within the meaning of Article 2(d) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, “imposing measures to prevent births within the group.”

Israel has deliberately targeted and killed mothers and dismantled Gaza’s healthcare system. Beyond targeting doctors, the bombing of the only fertility clinic in Gaza was a symbolic representation of this violence. We saw many couples who had waited years to have a child, only for that child to be killed along with their chance of having others.

The lack of fuel meant incubators could not function, and throughout this genocide, Palestinian medical staff were ordered by the IDF to abandon and leave behind newborn infants. Many of them slowly starved to death.

Despite states ignoring international law, you continue to invoke it — and now you introduce a new legal term, ‘femi-genocide’. Why?

Many international legal experts agree: what we are witnessing in Gaza is depravity, cruelty, and sadism on an unprecedented scale.

The current legal framework and concepts do not fully capture the scale, the patterns, or the intentionality, and many experts and international lawyers have struggled to apply existing terminology to these unprecedented crimes.

What is clear, however, is that every act committed by Israel was geared towards serving the overall objective of destroying the Palestinian people and ethnically cleansing Gaza (and other Palestinian-occupied land).

That is why terms such as “every sector was subjected to partial or total destruction” are used.

For example, ecocide — describing environmental destruction through toxic weapons — and domicide — the intended erasure of homes — are emerging.

Others speak of scholasticide, for the elimination of schools, and even legicide, the collapse of international law due to Israel’s impunity.

With that in mind, and given the deliberate targeting of Palestinian women and girls, I used the term femi-genocide.

The violence against Palestinian women and girls is so extreme that existing concepts fall short.

Argentine anthropologist Rita Laura Segato first coined the term to describe systematic violence against women rooted in patriarchal, racial, and colonial power structures.

This was intentional and can be inferred from the repeated and continuous dehumanising and vilifying speech that Israeli leadership and representatives of Israeli society directed specifically at Palestinian women and children.

Can these new terms help ensure accountability and justice?

As I said, one of the consequences of the genocide in Gaza, and the fact that it has been allowed to continue, is that it has eroded the credibility of international law and the rules-based order.

If the world cannot stop a genocide that is live-streamed on our screens day in and day out, and cannot end the aggressor’s impunity, what hope do victims have in other parts of the world?

The credibility of governments and other actors that claim to care about human rights, including women’s rights, has also suffered a severe blow. People everywhere have been able to see through the double and triple standards.

What is happening in Gaza is a test case for humanity. As in the past, Israel is experimenting with new, powerful, and sophisticated tools and crimes.

Despite pressure from people and societies on their governments, unfortunately, it is not yet enough to stop the genocide.

Governments periodically condemn the violence and express their horror, but they have not yet broken the siege, sent a protection force to Gaza, or imposed large-scale sanctions on Israel.

They have not done everything they can to bring those responsible for massive human rights violations to justice.

What has been your interaction with the State of Israel in preparing this report, and more broadly, during your mandate?

Right after October 7, I asked both Palestine and Israel to facilitate a visit to examine the reported crimes committed on and since that date against all women, whether Palestinian, Israeli, or other nationals.

The State of Palestine immediately welcomed my request, while the State of Israel has never responded.

As you know, visiting the Palestinian territories and meeting with stakeholders and victims requires Israel’s permission, which has not been granted.

After October 7, I also reached out to Israeli civil society to find anyone willing to speak with me about the Hamas-led attack on that day.

One NGO, Physicians for Human Rights, sent a report based on secondary sources, mainly the Israeli government, which was later retracted.

I also attempted to contact a former Israeli captive who had shared her experience publicly, but I didn’t receive a response.

Thus, I have not been able to say more than what I and other fellow mandate holders have stated, namely that we condemn all acts of violence, including sexual violence and abuse, committed against anyone on and since October 7.

If I have spoken in more detail about the systematic violence, including sexual violence against Palestinian women and girls, it is because over the past months I have received credible information from victims or their representatives — information I have been able to verify and act upon, including by seeking clarifications from Israel regarding the reports and allegations.

Colleagues and the Commission of Inquiry on the oPt have also documented cases of appalling sexual violence and torture against Palestinian men.

Mandate holders can only act when they receive information from a wide range of reliable sources. They cannot rely solely on media sources, especially when those sources themselves depend on government information that cannot be independently verified.

Nevertheless, my colleagues and I have consistently advocated for impartial and independent investigations into all reported crimes. For this to happen, all parties, particularly Israel as the occupying power, must allow independent investigators access and fully cooperate with independent investigations.

I hold no inherent bias against Israelis. I have worked with Israeli women and civil society organisations and reflected their input in thematic reports on issues such as child custody, prostitution, and surrogacy.

Yet, pro-Israel lobbies have sought to portray me as biased due to my identity. I recognise that anyone who has expressed concern over Israel’s conduct, within or outside the UN, is often accused of antisemitism or bias.

Why are other states not doing more to stop Israel, and, after your colleague Francesca Albanese was sanctioned by the US, do you fear any repercussions?

A number of special rapporteurs and independent experts have experienced increasing harassment, bullying, and pressure for their work and positions — myself included, for a range of positions I have adopted over the past four years.

Besides the extremely worrying situation concerning the Special Rapporteur on the oPt, the US Congress last year discussed a bill to abolish the position of Special Rapporteur on Coercive Measures.

Recently, we have also seen the resignation of three members of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which occurred shortly after the sanctions on the Special Rapporteur on the oPt.

I believe that states, the Human Rights Council, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights could and should have done more to defend our independence in the years preceding these sanctions, and could have taken stronger, firmer stands sooner.

The writing was on the wall, and we should, or could, have seen this coming. There were already alarming incidents of attacks and defamation.

As for why states are not doing more, the recent report of the Special Rapporteur on the oPt shows that too many economic interests are at stake.

The media also bears responsibility. They amplified falsehoods about October 7 that were perpetuated by Israel and repeated by its allies, serving to justify the collective punishment inflicted on Palestinians and the unspeakable crimes they were subjected to.

If governments are feeling any pressure now, it is thanks to the relentless efforts of citizens mobilising worldwide, particularly outside of the Arab world.

Stefano Nanni is a freelance writer with a background in the aid sector. Based in Amman, he has lived in Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan for the past 12 years. He is also the author of a book about the Iraqi poet Latif Al Saadi

Follow him on Instagram: @stef.nanni