{"id":53698,"date":"2026-02-27T10:29:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/?p=53698"},"modified":"2026-02-27T10:35:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:35:41","slug":"violencia-sexual-y-reproductiva-en-palestina-las-mujeres-como-blanco-estrategico-del-genocidio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/?p=53698","title":{"rendered":"[:es]Violencia sexual y reproductiva en Palestina: las mujeres como blanco estrat\u00e9gico del genocidio[:en]Sexual and Reproductive Violence in Palestine: Women as a Strategic Target of Genocide[:]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[:es]<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Por<\/strong> <strong>Carolina Bracco* \u2013 LatFem<\/strong> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.other-news.info\/noticias\/violencia-sexual-y-reproductiva-en-palestina-las-mujeres-como-blanco-estrategico-del-genocidio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Other News<\/a><br>Foto de portada: Prensa Latina, Cuba<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Lejos de ser un \u201cda\u00f1o colateral\u201d, la violencia sexual y reproductiva contra las mujeres palestinas forma parte de una estrategia colonial de larga duraci\u00f3n. El genocidio en Gaza se inscribe en una l\u00f3gica demogr\u00e1fica que busca impedir la reproducci\u00f3n de la vida palestina y aniquilar no solo el presente, sino tambi\u00e9n la posibilidad de futuro.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">El <a href=\"https:\/\/latfem.org\/por-que-el-genocidio-en-palestina-es-una-cuestion-feminista\/\">genocidio en Gaza<\/a> debe ser comprendido como la fase m\u00e1s reciente de un proyecto colonial de asentamiento que, desde sus or\u00edgenes, tuvo como objetivo la eliminaci\u00f3n de la poblaci\u00f3n originaria palestina con el fin de garantizar la supremac\u00eda jud\u00eda sobre el territorio. Lejos de constituir un episodio excepcional, la violencia actual se inscribe en una Nakba continua, iniciada en 1948 y jam\u00e1s interrumpida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ese a\u00f1o, bajo el amparo del Mandato Brit\u00e1nico, las <a href=\"https:\/\/latfem.org\/gaza-el-cese-al-fuego-no-es-el-final-es-apenas-el-comienzo\/\">milicias sionistas <\/a>llevaron adelante una limpieza \u00e9tnica sistem\u00e1tica que forz\u00f3 a m\u00e1s de 750.000 personas a abandonar sus hogares. M\u00e1s del 80% de la poblaci\u00f3n nativa fue expulsada del territorio que poco despu\u00e9s ser\u00eda declarado Estado de Israel. Esta violencia fundacional -acompa\u00f1ada de m\u00e1s de 13.000 asesinatos- produjo en pocos meses una transformaci\u00f3n radical de la composici\u00f3n demogr\u00e1fica: la poblaci\u00f3n jud\u00eda pas\u00f3 de representar aproximadamente el 30% al 81% del total. El objetivo era reemplazar a la poblaci\u00f3n existente, sentando las bases de un orden colonial cuya l\u00f3gica eliminatoria contin\u00faa operando hasta el presente.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pero a diferencia de otros procesos de asentamiento, el proyecto colonial no termin\u00f3: se naturaliz\u00f3. Israel fue reconocido por la comunidad internacional sin exigirle justicia, reparaci\u00f3n ni retorno para la poblaci\u00f3n desplazada.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A pesar de las expulsiones masivas de 1948 y 1967 -que afectaron a 250.000 personas-, de la inmigraci\u00f3n de m\u00e1s de un mill\u00f3n de jud\u00edos de la ex Uni\u00f3n Sovi\u00e9tica entre 1990 y 2000, y de las m\u00faltiples matanzas, la proporci\u00f3n de poblaci\u00f3n palestina en el conjunto del territorio entre el r\u00edo Jord\u00e1n y el mar Mediterr\u00e1neo nunca dej\u00f3 de aumentar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">En el a\u00f1o 2000, los colonos jud\u00edos y sus descendientes representaban el 52% del total. Para 2010, eran apenas el 49%. Diez a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s, solo el 47%. Estos son datos aportados por el acad\u00e9mico palestino <a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/opinion\/israel-genocide-terminal-stage-settler-colony-crisis\">Joseph Masad<\/a>, quien ve en el genocidio actual una estrategia pol\u00edtica clara; la \u00fanica que permitir\u00eda preservar la supremac\u00eda de los colonos sobre el territorio hist\u00f3rico palestino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">La preocupaci\u00f3n sobre el desbalance demogr\u00e1fico ha estado siempre en la ret\u00f3rica y la pol\u00edtica israel\u00ed; ya desde los a\u00f1os 70, la entonces primer ministra Golda Meir -la misma que dec\u00eda que los palestinos \u201cno exist\u00edan\u201d- declaraba que se iba a dormir preocupada pensando cu\u00e1ntos ni\u00f1os \u00e1rabes nacer\u00edan durante la noche. Cuatro d\u00e9cadas m\u00e1s tarde, la ministra de justicia <a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/ali-abunimah\/israeli-lawmakers-call-genocide-palestinians-gets-thousands-facebook-likes\">Ayelen Shaked&nbsp; declar\u00f3 abiertamente<\/a> que hab\u00eda que dispararles a las mujeres palestinas embarazadas porque \u201cdan a luz a peque\u00f1as serpientes\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">En tanto reproductoras de la vida y de la continuidad nacional, las mujeres palestinas han sido hist\u00f3ricamente construidas por el r\u00e9gimen colonial como amenazas demogr\u00e1ficas. En este marco, la violencia sexual, obst\u00e9trica, f\u00edsica y simb\u00f3lica ejercida contra ellas ha sido una pr\u00e1ctica persistente y estructural. Su finalidad es intervenir sobre la reproducci\u00f3n de la vida palestina y quebrar su continuidad en el tiempo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">El genocidio debe entenderse precisamente en estos t\u00e9rminos: como la destrucci\u00f3n sistem\u00e1tica de un pueblo, que no se limita a la eliminaci\u00f3n f\u00edsica directa, sino que opera tambi\u00e9n a trav\u00e9s del bloqueo, el asedio prolongado, la hambruna inducida, la producci\u00f3n de trauma colectivo y la aniquilaci\u00f3n de los horizontes de presente y de futuro. En este proceso, los cuerpos de las mujeres se convierten en un campo central de disputa, donde la violencia reproductiva funciona como una tecnolog\u00eda orientada a impedir la persistencia misma del pueblo palestino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u201cReprocidio\u201d: aniquilar el presente y el futuro<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lo que est\u00e1 en el centro del genocidio es la eliminaci\u00f3n de la vida. Y por eso, la resistencia a ese intento de borramiento no solo pasa por la supervivencia inmediata, sino tambi\u00e9n por la capacidad de reproducir la vida: de gestar, de parir, de criar. Hoy, en Gaza, eso es pr\u00e1cticamente imposible. La violencia reproductiva se manifiesta en todos los niveles: no hay hogares, no hay intimidad posible, no hay m\u00e9dicos especialistas, no hay tratamientos de fertilidad. Las violaciones dejan huellas traum\u00e1ticas en los cuerpos que afectan directamente la posibilidad de gestar. Entre 2022 y 2025, los abortos espont\u00e1neos aumentaron un 300% y la natalidad cay\u00f3 un 41%. Y a\u00fan si una mujer logra concebir, \u00bfen qu\u00e9 condiciones va a parir? Sin hospitales, sin cuidados neonatales, sin anestesia para las ces\u00e1reas. Y si da a luz y el beb\u00e9 sobrevive, lo espera el fr\u00edo y la hambruna: madres desnutridas, sin acceso a leche materna, sin leche de f\u00f3rmula, sin agua potable, sin inmunidad b\u00e1sica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Este conjunto de pr\u00e1cticas es definido por <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=y5UcRGIPvQo\">la acad\u00e9mica gazat\u00ed Hala Shoman define como reprocidio<\/a>: una forma espec\u00edfica de violencia colonial que apunta a desmantelar las estructuras reproductivas de una poblaci\u00f3n para eliminarla no solo en el presente, sino tambi\u00e9n en su potencial de futuro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">El caso paradigm\u00e1tico fue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2024\/apr\/20\/israel-destroyed-embryos-bombing-ivf-center-gaza\">el bombardeo del centro de fertilidad Al Basma<\/a>, el m\u00e1s grande de Gaza, en diciembre de 2023. Un misil destruy\u00f3 m\u00e1s de 4.000 embriones y m\u00e1s de 1.000 muestras de esperma y \u00f3vulos no fecundados. El doctor Bahaeldeen Ghalayini, fundador del centro, describi\u00f3 la magnitud del ataque con una frase desgarradora: \u201c5.000 vidas en un solo proyectil\u201d. Este ataque deliberado forma parte de una pol\u00edtica sistem\u00e1tica y sostenida de aniquilaci\u00f3n reproductiva, que abarca desde la destrucci\u00f3n de hospitales materno-infantiles hasta el impedimento de partos seguros, el uso de violencia sexual en c\u00e1rceles, el envenenamiento ambiental, la destrucci\u00f3n de viviendas y la imposibilidad estructural de criar o amamantar en condiciones m\u00ednimas de dignidad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A ello se suma el colapso total del sistema sanitario, la falta de electricidad en incubadoras, la multiplicaci\u00f3n de partos sin anestesia ni insumos, el incremento exponencial de ces\u00e1reas de urgencia y de histerectom\u00edas realizadas para evitar hemorragias fatales. En algunos casos, m\u00e9dicos han tenido que realizar ces\u00e1reas post mortem para salvar a beb\u00e9s de los vientres de sus madres asesinadas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Las condiciones de parto y crianza en refugios improvisados -muchos de ellos rodeados por tanques israel\u00edes o sin acceso a agua, alimento ni privacidad- han generado un entorno de trauma estructural y desesperanza. Muchas mujeres expresan el deseo de volver a tener a sus hijos dentro del cuerpo, como \u00fanica forma de protegerlos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">En paralelo, los ataques contra la reproducci\u00f3n no se limitan a Gaza. En las c\u00e1rceles israel\u00edes, se multiplican los relatos de violencia sexual y tortura con impactos directos sobre la salud reproductiva. Estas agresiones no solo buscan da\u00f1ar cuerpos individuales: buscan humillar, quebrar, implantar el terror, desmantelar el entramado \u00edntimo de la vida palestina, borrando las posibilidades de maternidad, paternidad o intimidad compartida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Violencia sexual como tecnolog\u00eda colonial<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">La violencia sexual no es un fen\u00f3meno reciente ni marginal, sino que ha estado en el centro de las pr\u00e1cticas colonizadoras desde el inicio. Ha sido pol\u00edtica sistem\u00e1tica de los gobiernos laboristas y de derecha por igual. En la masacre de Deir Yassin, el 9 de abril de 1948, se reportaron violaciones masivas a mujeres y ni\u00f1as palestinas. Seg\u00fan el historiador Ilan Papp\u00e9, los l\u00edderes sionistas anunciaron con orgullo el n\u00famero elevado de v\u00edctimas para sembrar el p\u00e1nico. Huir era, en esas condiciones, la \u00fanica opci\u00f3n racional. Desde entonces miles de ni\u00f1as y mujeres, pero tambi\u00e9n hombres y ni\u00f1os, han sido v\u00edctimas de violaciones, tortura genital, feminizaci\u00f3n forzada, castraci\u00f3n como parte de una tecnolog\u00eda colonial sistem\u00e1tica de dominaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">El <a href=\"https:\/\/www.btselem.org\/publications\/202601_living_hell\">centro de detenci\u00f3n Sde Teiman<\/a>, donde hay m\u00e1s de 4.000 gazat\u00edes detenidos desde el 7 de octubre, se ha convertido en un centro de tortura a\u00fan m\u00e1s cruel que Guant\u00e1namo o Abu Ghraib. Las denuncias de violaci\u00f3n y abuso sexual son m\u00faltiples. En lugar de procesar a los agresores, se ha visto a sectores de la sociedad israel\u00ed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2024\/8\/13\/israeli-protesters-rally-for-the-right-to-rape-prisoners\">manifestarse en defensa de los soldados acusados<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Las din\u00e1micas de g\u00e9nero y sexualidad son fundamentales para comprender la estructura del colonialismo israel\u00ed. La dominaci\u00f3n opera a trav\u00e9s de la feminizaci\u00f3n del enemigo: violar a una mujer palestina es humillar a su comunidad; feminizar al var\u00f3n colonizado es castrarlo simb\u00f3licamente; desmembrar un cuerpo es convertirlo en desecho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">La masculinidad blanca, colonial y sionista se impone no solo por la fuerza, sino tambi\u00e9n por el discurso. En los medios hegem\u00f3nicos y en los sectores liberales de Occidente, los palestinos son presentados como b\u00e1rbaros, violentos, mis\u00f3ginos, fan\u00e1ticos, o simplemente como n\u00fameros sin rostro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Esta operaci\u00f3n discursiva configura lo que Orlando Patterson defini\u00f3 como \u201cmuerte social\u201d: el despojo simb\u00f3lico de la agencia, la historia y la pertenencia al g\u00e9nero humano. En este marco, la violaci\u00f3n de los cuerpos palestinos es una herramienta. Y su impunidad, un s\u00edntoma de deshumanizaci\u00f3n estructural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">En la pr\u00e1ctica, esto se traduce en una pol\u00edtica genocida integral donde la destrucci\u00f3n deliberada de escuelas, hospitales, universidades, bibliotecas, iglesias, mezquitas, redes de agua y energ\u00eda, es una estrategia sistem\u00e1tica para impedir la reproducci\u00f3n social palestina. Lo que se busca destruir no es solo el presente, sino la posibilidad de un futuro colectivo. Es una violencia que afecta a los cuerpos, pero tambi\u00e9n a los saberes, a los afectos, a la memoria, a las formas de vida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sostener la vida bajo condiciones de muerte<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">En este contexto de violencia absoluta, afirmar la vida se convierte en un acto insurreccional. Sin embargo, no todas las familias pueden o desean reproducirse. Muchas mujeres han expresado p\u00fablicamente su decisi\u00f3n de evitar embarazos durante el genocidio, ante el colapso sanitario y el riesgo extremo de muerte materna o infantil. Como escribi\u00f3 Hala Shoman en redes sociales en agosto de 2024: \u201cPiensen bien antes de traer ni\u00f1os al mundo. Las tasas de aborto espont\u00e1neo se han triplicado. Las madres mueren desangradas. No hay leche, ni comida, ni medicamentos. Esto es un ruego envuelto en amor y en miedo\u201d. Estas palabras condensan el dilema \u00e9tico y pol\u00edtico que enfrentan quienes desean continuar una vida afectiva y familiar en medio de un r\u00e9gimen de exterminio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Al mismo tiempo, esta negativa temporal a la reproducci\u00f3n no contradice el impulso afirmativo de vida, sino que forma parte de una \u00e9tica del cuidado y de una pol\u00edtica de la protecci\u00f3n frente al exterminio. Como se\u00f1ala Shoman, resistir no significa solo tener hijos; significa hacer posible las condiciones de vida. Y eso, en Gaza, hoy es una forma radical de lucha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sostener la vida bajo condiciones de muerte implica desafiar el marco jur\u00eddico que define el genocidio solo en t\u00e9rminos de cifras de muertos. Destruir la capacidad de reproducci\u00f3n, imponer el duelo permanente, clausurar el horizonte, impedir la crianza, criminalizar la infancia y aislar el deseo son formas de aniquilaci\u00f3n que el derecho internacional sigue sin reconocer plenamente.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">La historia de las mujeres palestinas es la historia de Palestina. Es una historia de resiliencia y de resistencia, de ocupaci\u00f3n y exilio, pero tambi\u00e9n de continuidad y lucha por la posibilidad misma de existir, de continuar, de vivir con dignidad. Se trata de una lucha que no es s\u00f3lo por la liberaci\u00f3n, sino tambi\u00e9n contra la eliminaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Las mujeres palestinas, en este contexto, no son solo v\u00edctimas. Son sujetas activas de resistencia. En sus cuerpos se inscribe el proyecto de exterminio, pero tambi\u00e9n la obstinada voluntad de vivir. Y mientras siga habiendo vida que se defienda, que se reproduzca, que se narre, habr\u00e1 futuro para Palestina.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>*Carolina Bracco, polit\u00f3loga, Dra. en culturas \u00e1rabe y hebrea, escritora e investigadora.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leer tambi\u00e9n: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsaltodiario.com\/palestina\/israel-empleo-municion-carbonizo-3-000-gazaties-dejar-rastro\">https:\/\/www.elsaltodiario.com\/palestina\/israel-empleo-municion-carbonizo-3-000-gazaties-dejar-rastro<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<p>[:en]<\/p>\n<p><strong><span dir=\"auto\">By <\/span><\/strong> <strong><span dir=\"auto\">Carolina Bracco* \u2013 LatFem<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><span dir=\"auto\">Far from being \u201ccollateral damage,\u201d sexual and reproductive violence against Palestinian women is part of a long-standing colonial strategy. The genocide in Gaza is part of a demographic logic that seeks to prevent the reproduction of Palestinian life and annihilate not only the present, but also the possibility of a future.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/latfem.org\/por-que-el-genocidio-en-palestina-es-una-cuestion-feminista\/\"><span dir=\"auto\">genocide in Gaza<\/span><\/a><span dir=\"auto\"> must be understood as the most recent phase of a colonial settlement project that, from its inception, aimed to eliminate the indigenous Palestinian population in order to guarantee Jewish supremacy over the territory. Far from being an exceptional episode, the current violence is part of a continuous Nakba, which began in 1948 and has never been interrupted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">That year, under the auspices of the British Mandate, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/latfem.org\/gaza-el-cese-al-fuego-no-es-el-final-es-apenas-el-comienzo\/\"><span dir=\"auto\">Zionist militias<\/span><\/a><span dir=\"auto\"> carried out a systematic ethnic cleansing that forced more than 750,000 people to abandon their homes. More than 80% of the native population was expelled from the territory that would soon be declared the State of Israel. This foundational violence\u2014accompanied by more than 13,000 murders\u2014produced in a few months a radical transformation of the demographic composition: the Jewish population went from representing approximately 30% to 81% of the total. The objective was to replace the existing population, laying the foundations for a colonial order whose eliminationist logic continues to operate to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">But unlike other settlement processes, the colonial project did not end: it became normalized. Israel was recognized by the international community without any demands for justice, reparations, or the return of the displaced population.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">Despite the mass expulsions of 1948 and 1967\u2014which affected 250,000 people\u2014the immigration of more than one million Jews from the former Soviet Union between 1990 and 2000, and the multiple massacres, the proportion of Palestinian population in the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea never stopped increasing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">In 2000, Jewish settlers and their descendants made up 52% \u200b\u200bof the total population. By 2010, they represented only 49%. Ten years later, they accounted for just 47%. These figures come from Palestinian academic <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/opinion\/israel-genocide-terminal-stage-settler-colony-crisis\"><span dir=\"auto\">Joseph Masad<\/span><\/a><span dir=\"auto\"> , who sees the current genocide as a clear political strategy; the only one that would allow the settlers to maintain their supremacy over the historic Palestinian territory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">Concern about the demographic imbalance has always been present in Israeli rhetoric and policy. As early as the 1970s, then-Prime Minister Golda Meir\u2014the same one who said that Palestinians \u201cdid not exist\u201d\u2014stated that she went to sleep worrying about how many Arab children would be born during the night. Four decades later, Justice Minister <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/electronicintifada.net\/blogs\/ali-abunimah\/israeli-lawmakers-call-genocide-palestinians-gets-thousands-facebook-likes\"><span dir=\"auto\">Ayelen Shaked openly declared<\/span><\/a><span dir=\"auto\"> that pregnant Palestinian women should be shot because \u201cthey give birth to little snakes.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">As reproducers of life and national continuity, Palestinian women have historically been constructed by the colonial regime as demographic threats. Within this framework, sexual, obstetric, physical, and symbolic violence perpetrated against them has been a persistent and structural practice. Its aim is to disrupt the reproduction of Palestinian life and break its continuity over time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">Genocide must be understood precisely in these terms: as the systematic destruction of a people, which is not limited to direct physical elimination, but also operates through blockade, prolonged siege, induced famine, the production of collective trauma, and the annihilation of present and future prospects. In this process, women&#8217;s bodies become a central battleground, where reproductive violence functions as a technology aimed at preventing the very survival of the Palestinian people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span dir=\"auto\">\u201cReprocidio\u201d: to annihilate the present and the future<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">At the heart of genocide is the elimination of life. And that is why resistance to this attempt at erasure depends not only on immediate survival, but also on the capacity to reproduce life: to conceive, to give birth, to raise children. Today, in Gaza, that is practically impossible. Reproductive violence manifests itself at every level: there are no homes, no privacy, no specialist doctors, no fertility treatments. Rape leaves traumatic scars on bodies that directly affect the ability to conceive. Between 2022 and 2025, miscarriages increased by 300% and the birth rate fell by 41%. And even if a woman manages to conceive, under what conditions will she give birth? Without hospitals, without neonatal care, without anesthesia for cesarean sections. And if she gives birth and the baby survives, cold and famine await: malnourished mothers, without access to breast milk, without formula, without clean water, without basic immunity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">This set of practices is defined by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=y5UcRGIPvQo\"><span dir=\"auto\">the Gazan academic Hala Shoman as reprocidio<\/span><\/a><span dir=\"auto\"> : a specific form of colonial violence that aims to dismantle the reproductive structures of a population in order to eliminate it not only in the present, but also in its future potential.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">The paradigmatic case was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2024\/apr\/20\/israel-destroyed-embryos-bombing-ivf-center-gaza\"><span dir=\"auto\">the bombing of the Al Basma fertility center<\/span><\/a><span dir=\"auto\"> , the largest in Gaza, in December 2023. A missile destroyed more than 4,000 embryos and over 1,000 samples of unfertilized sperm and eggs. Dr. Bahaeldeen Ghalayini, the center&#8217;s founder, described the magnitude of the attack with a heartbreaking phrase: \u201c5,000 lives in a single projectile.\u201d This deliberate attack is part of a systematic and sustained policy of reproductive annihilation, which ranges from the destruction of maternal and child health hospitals to the obstruction of safe childbirth, the use of sexual violence in prisons, environmental poisoning, the destruction of homes, and the structural impossibility of raising or breastfeeding children in conditions of minimal dignity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">This is compounded by the total collapse of the healthcare system, the lack of electricity in incubators, the surge in births without anesthesia or supplies, and the exponential increase in emergency cesarean sections and hysterectomies performed to prevent fatal hemorrhaging. In some cases, doctors have had to perform post-mortem cesarean sections to save babies from the wombs of their murdered mothers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">The conditions of childbirth and raising children in makeshift shelters\u2014many surrounded by Israeli tanks or lacking access to water, food, or privacy\u2014have created an environment of structural trauma and hopelessness. Many women express a desire to carry their children back inside their bodies as the only way to protect them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">Meanwhile, attacks against reproduction are not limited to Gaza. In Israeli prisons, accounts of sexual violence and torture with direct impacts on reproductive health are multiplying. These assaults not only seek to harm individual bodies: they aim to humiliate, break, instill terror, and dismantle the intimate fabric of Palestinian life, erasing the possibilities of motherhood, fatherhood, or shared intimacy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span dir=\"auto\">Sexual violence as a colonial technology<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">Sexual violence is not a recent or marginal phenomenon; it has been central to colonial practices from the very beginning. It has been a systematic policy of both labor and right-wing governments. In the Deir Yassin massacre on April 9, 1948, mass rapes of Palestinian women and girls were reported. According to historian Ilan Papp\u00e9, Zionist leaders proudly announced the high number of victims to sow panic. Under those circumstances, fleeing was the only rational option. Since then, thousands of girls and women, as well as men and boys, have been victims of rape, genital torture, forced feminization, and castration as part of a systematic colonial technology of domination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.btselem.org\/publications\/202601_living_hell\"><span dir=\"auto\">Sde Teiman detention center<\/span><\/a><span dir=\"auto\"> , where more than 4,000 Gazans have been held since October 7, has become a torture center even more brutal than Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib. Allegations of rape and sexual abuse are numerous. Instead of prosecuting the perpetrators, sectors of Israeli society have been seen <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2024\/8\/13\/israeli-protesters-rally-for-the-right-to-rape-prisoners\"><span dir=\"auto\">demonstrating in defense of the accused soldiers<\/span><\/a><span dir=\"auto\"> .<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">Gender and sexuality dynamics are fundamental to understanding the structure of Israeli colonialism. Domination operates through the feminization of the enemy: raping a Palestinian woman is to humiliate her community; feminizing the colonized man is to symbolically castrate him; dismembering a body is to turn it into waste.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">White, colonial, and Zionist masculinity is imposed not only by force, but also by discourse. In mainstream media and liberal circles in the West, Palestinians are portrayed as barbarians, violent, misogynistic, fanatical, or simply as faceless numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">This discursive operation constitutes what Orlando Patterson defined as \u201csocial death\u201d: the symbolic dispossession of agency, history, and belonging to the human race. Within this framework, the rape of Palestinian bodies is a tool. And its impunity, a symptom of structural dehumanization.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">In practice, this translates into a comprehensive genocidal policy where the deliberate destruction of schools, hospitals, universities, libraries, churches, mosques, and water and energy networks is a systematic strategy to prevent Palestinian social reproduction. What is sought to be destroyed is not only the present, but also the possibility of a collective future. It is a violence that affects bodies, but also knowledge, affections, memory, and ways of life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span dir=\"auto\">Sustaining life under conditions of death<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">In this context of absolute violence, affirming life becomes an act of insurrection. However, not all families can or wish to reproduce. Many women have publicly expressed their decision to avoid pregnancy during the genocide, given the collapse of the healthcare system and the extreme risk of maternal or infant death. As Hala Shoman wrote on social media in August 2024: \u201cThink carefully before bringing children into the world. Miscarriage rates have tripled. Mothers are bleeding to death. There is no milk, no food, no medicine. This is a plea wrapped in love and fear.\u201d These words encapsulate the ethical and political dilemma faced by those who wish to continue an emotional and family life amidst a regime of extermination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">At the same time, this temporary refusal to reproduce does not contradict the affirmative impulse toward life, but rather forms part of an ethic of care and a politics of protection against extermination. As Shoman points out, resistance does not simply mean having children; it means making the conditions for life possible. And that, in Gaza today, is a radical form of struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">Sustaining life under conditions of death means challenging the legal framework that defines genocide solely in terms of death tolls. Destroying the capacity to reproduce, imposing perpetual mourning, closing off possibilities, preventing children from being raised, criminalizing childhood, and isolating desire are forms of annihilation that international law still fails to fully recognize.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">The history of Palestinian women is the history of Palestine. It is a story of resilience and resistance, of occupation and exile, but also of continuity and the struggle for the very possibility of existing, of continuing, of living with dignity. It is a struggle not only for liberation, but also against elimination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\">Palestinian women, in this context, are not only victims. They are active agents of resistance. Their bodies bear the marks of the extermination project, but also the stubborn will to live. And as long as there is life to be defended, to be reproduced, to be told, there will be a future for Palestine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span dir=\"auto\">*Carolina Bracco, political scientist, PhD in Arab and Hebrew cultures, writer and researcher.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"auto\"><span class=\"VIpgJd-yAWNEb-VIpgJd-fmcmS-sn54Q\" dir=\"auto\">Read also: <\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.elsaltodiario.com\/palestina\/israel-empleo-municion-carbonizo-3-000-gazaties-dejar-rastro\"><span dir=\"auto\"><span class=\"VIpgJd-yAWNEb-VIpgJd-fmcmS-sn54Q\" dir=\"auto\">https:\/\/www.elsaltodiario.com\/palestina\/israel-empleo-municion-carbonizo-3-000-gazaties-dejar-rastro<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><br \/>[:]<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[:es] Por Carolina Bracco* \u2013 LatFem | Other NewsFoto de portada: Prensa Latina, Cuba Lejos de ser un \u201cda\u00f1o colateral\u201d, la violencia sexual y reproductiva contra las mujeres palestinas forma parte de una estrategia colonial de larga duraci\u00f3n. El genocidio en Gaza se inscribe en una l\u00f3gica demogr\u00e1fica que busca impedir la reproducci\u00f3n de la [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[826,961,1327],"tags":[1439,1210,41,112],"class_list":["post-53698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medios-libres-2","category-mujeres","category-palestina","tag-genocidio","tag-israel","tag-mujeres","tag-palestina"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53698"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53702,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53698\/revisions\/53702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiozapatista.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}