While the world's humanitarian and medical institutions turn pink to mark the World Health Organization’s annual Pink October campaign, genocidal Israel continues to target Palestinian women, especially in Gaza. Pink October is aimed at raising awareness of the need for early detection and treatment of breast cancer in women — while thousands of Palestinian women are denied access to medical services and early screening programs. Palestinian medical patients are also routinely denied their right to travel for medical treatment.
In black instead of pink, Palestinian women in Gaza grieve the pain and loss they have endured during more than two years of Israel’s genocide – enabled by the colonial West.
For nearly a hundred years, Palestinian women have been at the heart of the struggle against Israel’s settler-colonial and apartheid regime in various fields, making them direct targets. Israel’s leaders have always considered Palestinian women a "demographic threat" to its colonial project. For example, former Israeli Minister Ayelet Shaked directly called for the targeting and killing of Palestinian women, especially the mothers of martyrs, describing them as "raising little snakes."
For two years of genocide, Israel killed on average seven women every two hours, including two mothers. The number of Palestinian women killed by Israel in Gaza is stated to be over 12,000, with tens of thousands more missing under the rubble. Israel has compounded the suffering of Palestinian women through forced displacement, starvation, and the targeting of all aspects of life — such as the health sector and the complete shutdown of hospitals — all part of an endless series of crimes committed against 2.3 million Palestinians in the besieged and illegally occupied Gaza Strip.
Every day, dozens of Palestinian women are forced to give birth under shelling and the sound of gunfire, without any medical care during or after childbirth. Israel’s occupation has forced thousands of pregnant women to constantly move under the immediate threat of death, many of whom have miscarried as a result of these conditions. The suffering of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian women has been compounded by direct injuries from the bombing. They are also under risk of contracting multiple diseases as a result of genocidal Israel preventing the delivery of aid containing essential health supplies to the Gaza Strip. Even before the beginning of Israel’s genocide, the prolonged criminal siege imposed by Israel for more than 17 years exacerbated the difficult living conditions for Palestinian women in Gaza.
In Israeli prisons, Israel imposes an even more complex reality on female Palestinian prisoners in general, and cancer patients in particular. Israel not only subjects them to daily oppression and violations, depriving them of the most basic human rights and daily health needs, but also forces them to face pain without any healthcare. In just one instance, the Israeli authorities forced prisoner Tahani Abu Samhan to give birth without any medical support, for her or her new born.
A ceasefire, even if Israel is eventually forced to respect it, will not stop all these Israeli crimes or the genocide against Palestinians — only meaningful accountability will.
This Pink October, we salute Palestinian women. Palestine is a feminist issue. In honor of the suffering, sacrifices, and heroic resistance and sumud of Palestinian women, we will continue to escalate pressure against genocidal Israel, including Israeli and complicit companies and institutions. The BDS movement calls on our millions of supporters worldwide to escalate pressure to end Israel’s genocide and its decades-old regime of settler-colonialism, apartheid, and illegal occupation.