According to Haaretz, there is increasing sexual harassment of Palestinian women by Israeli soldiers at checkpoints in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
In one incident, a young Palestinian woman testified that an Israeli soldier exposed himself to her at a checkpoint on August 17.
The woman said she was about to pass through the Tamar checkpoint in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood when the soldier stopped her and asked her to open her bag. After she complied, he took off part of his pants and asked her: “Do you want it? Come and look at it.”
“I left the checkpoint in shock, not knowing what was happening. I felt like someone had slapped me,” she told Haaretz.
The young woman reported the incident to the local community leader, Basam Abu Aisha, who then contacted a senior civil administration official who accompanied the woman to the checkpoint, where she identified her tormentor.
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According to Abu Aisha, he was then threatened by Shadi Shubash, an official in the civil administration, who told him that the young woman’s statement was a “lie” and warned him not to “interfere.”
“I was exhausted and depressed. Now it’s easier for me, but when I try to go through the checkpoint I’m afraid the same thing will happen again,” the woman told Haaretz.
The Israeli military said it had launched an investigation into the incident.
An increase in sexual harassment
Following the incident, other women reported similar degrading treatment at checkpoints in the city, testifying to an increase in sexual harassment by Israeli soldiers in recent weeks.
A young woman reported that an Israeli soldier took photos of her and her sister as they passed through the same checkpoint.
Another person reported that an Israeli soldier searched her phone while holding her hand.
“He took my hand and asked me to open the phone. I told him these were my private photos, why should I open them?”
– Resident of Hebron
“He grabbed my hand and asked me to open the phone. I told him these were my private photos, why should I open them?” she said.
Others reported that they were regularly verbally attacked while passing through checkpoints and said that young women were now afraid to cross the checkpoints alone.
Hebron residents also reported that since metal detectors were installed after October 7, women are sometimes asked to remove their clothing. In some cases, women reported being ordered to remove their hijab.
In June, a UN report found that Israeli authorities have systematically subjected Palestinian women and girls to sexual violence, including forced nudity, public stripping, sexual torture and harassment.
The report concluded that these attacks were part of the “working procedures of the ISF (Israeli Security Forces).”
“These acts were intended to humiliate and degrade the victims and the Palestinian community as a whole by perpetuating gender stereotypes that create feelings of shame, subordination, emasculation and inferiority,” the report said.
