Israeli army 'marks International Women's Day' while killing women across Middle East

The Israeli military has drawn backlash on social media over a post "celebrating" International Women’s Day with a video in Arabic, Farsi, and English, published as the Israeli army continues to wage wars across the Middle East, killing women and girls.

In a post on X on Sunday, the military posted a video featuring three female Israeli military officials, including Ella Waweya, the army’s most high-profile female Muslim officer. Waweya recently took over from Avichay Adreaee as the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson.

In her Arabic-language message, the military spokeswoman said women’s voices were "powerful" and that their resilience was "a message", and that she "hopes for a better tomorrow" for them.

Another person, bearing the name tag Shirley Shamsian, said she dedicated International Women’s Day to "our brave sisters in Israel and Iran" — a message that comes as Israeli and US strikes continue to devastate the country.

Shamsian's message in Farsi went on to "applaud" the "powerful women fighting on the front line of defence for their country".

As expected, the social media post drew backlash from X users and activists, who highlighted that Israel's ongoing assaults in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza have killed scores of women and girls over the past 10 days.

Social media users responded with facts concerning Israel’s war in Gaza and raids on the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli military has killed thousands of Palestinian women since October 2023.

One pro-Palestinian activist, Matt, said: "Five months into the genocide, the miscarriage rate in Gaza increased 300% due to stress, malnutrition, and the destruction of hospitals."

Researcher Assal Rad responded with a screenshot of a UN report stating that two mothers are killed each hour in Gaza, at the height of Israel’s war in January 2024.

In November 2024, a UN report found that women and children accounted for nearly 70 percent of verified deaths in the Gaza Strip.

Others referenced the US strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, which killed between 168 and 180 school girls, in the first attack of the joint Israeli-US assault on Iran.

In Lebanon, dozens of women and girls have been killed by Israeli strikes, following the spillover of Iran's war into the country last week.

International Women’s Day is observed on 8 March every year, commemorating women’s fight for equality and rights, and serves to highlight issues impacting women worldwide, such as reproductive rights, gender-based violence, and the lack of equality in a society dominated by patriarchy.

Not only have Israel’s attacks killed women, but experts have concluded that Israel’s assaults in the Palestinian territories have employed several forms of gender-based violence against women, such as sexual and reproductive abuse, to stifle Palestinian self-determination and dignity.

Throughout its military campaigns, Israel has targeted healthcare facilities, medical workers, and blocked the delivery of life-saving medicine - jeopardising women’s health and potentially leading to life-threatening complications.