Gaza conflict exposes systemic gendered violence amid settler-colonial militarisation and global complicity
Original framing: “Gaza war’s terrible toll on women and girls highlights ongoing crisis” — UN News
The original framing omits the historical context of Israel’s settler-colonial project since 1948, the role of Western imperialism in sustaining the blockade, and the erasure of Palestinian feminist and queer resistance. It also ignores the gendered dimensions of displacement, healthcare collapse, and the weaponisation of starvation as a tactic of war. Indigenous Palestinian knowledge systems, such as sumud (steadfastness) and communal care networks, are erased in favour of a victimhood narrative that strips agency from Palestinian women.
High structural omission detected in mainstream coverage.
The narrative is produced by UN Women and Western media outlets, which frame the crisis through a humanitarian lens that centres Western moral authority and frames Israel as a 'victim' of Hamas. This obscures the role of US/EU military aid, corporate profiteering from arms sales, and geopolitical interests in sustaining the conflict. The framing serves to depoliticise the occupation while positioning Western institutions as neutral arbiters, ignoring their complicity in funding and legitimising the violence.
The gendered toll in Gaza is a continuation of Israel’s settler-colonial project since 1948, where displacement, land seizures, and militarised violence have long targeted Palestinian women’s bodies and families. Historical parallels include the 1948 Nakba, where sexual violence was weaponised to terrorise communities, and the 2008-2009 assault on Gaza, where UN data showed 52% of 1,400 killed were women and children. The current crisis mirrors patterns seen in other colonial conflicts, from Algeria to Vietnam, where occupying forces used gendered violence to break resistance.
The gendered violence in Gaza is not an aberration but the logical outcome of a settler-colonial project that has weaponised starvation, healthcare denial, and sexualised brutality since 1948.