End Violence against Palestinian Women in Israel

Dear friends, 

Thank you for supporting our project to end violence against Palestinian women in Israel. In our last report, we shared the sad news of 17 Palestinian women being murdered in Israel last year. While we had hope that this year would be better, we also had to expect that the trend of surging homicide rates in the Palestinian society would continue.  

With 219 homicides until today, the number of homicides in 2024 is similar to last year (244 homicides) and about double that in 2022 (116 homicides) and 2021 (126 homicides). Since 2015 (58 homicides), the rate has increased almost every year. In a population of just 2.1 million people, that means about 11 homicides per 100,000 people in 2023 and 2024. A high homicide rate can vary by country and context, but generally, a rate of 10 or more homicides per 100,000 people is considered high in most places around the world.  

We want to dedicate our report to the women and girls who were murdered in the Palestinian society in Israel in 2024 until today. We want to share their names, the little information about their lives that we have, and the violent circumstances under which their lives ended.It isimportant to us to remember that they were not numbers, but human beings with a name and a story: 

Asmahan, who was 45 years old, from the village of Nahf in the Galilee. She was found inside a car with signs of violence. A gag order was imposed on the case.  

Amal, a 53 year-old-mother of five daughters, from the town of Shefa Amr. She was found inside her car with stab wounds.The suspect is her husband, who allegedly crashed her car with his car outside her home, stabbed her all over her body and fled. Amal had left their shared home in 2023 after being subjected to her husband’s violence for years.   

Fatima, who was 33 years old. She was found dead inside her home in her hometown of Abu Snan in the Western Galilee. Her husband was arrested on suspicion of murder.  

Iman from the city of Ramla, a 31-year-old mother of five. She was injured by a stray bullet during a violent fight between families and died of her wounds in the hospital. Iman was pregnant at the time of her death. 

Soumiya, a 33-year-old mother of four from the village of Jisr al Zarqa.She was found in a pit with signs of violence after she went missing. Her husband is suspected of waking her up while she was sleeping and hitting her on the head with a hammer, while the children slept in the other rooms. He then tried to bury her body to conceal the murder. Soumiya had complained to the police about violence from her husband several times.  

Nabila, a 42-year-old mother of three, originally from Jisr al-Zarqa, was killed by a stray bullet at the entrance of her home in Jat. According to the police, the suspected target of the shooting was her husband, who was involved in a violent dispute between criminals.  

Manal, who was 27 years old and born in Kfar Qasim. She was found dead in her home in the city of Rahat, allegedly stabbed to death by her husband, who she had married one month prior.  

Asala, a 29-year-old owner of a clothing boutique from Nazareth, was shot dead in her car by a masked hitman. Her brother was the deputy head of a crime organization, and Asala was presumably murdered in revenge for the murder of a senior member of a rival crime organization. 

Duaa, a 23-year-old divorced mother of a baby daughter from Ramle, was shot by a masked man who waited for her outside her home, approached her when she left the house and shot her in the head at point-blank range. No suspects were arrested in the case.  

Tahani, who was 40 years old, was found shot dead inside a car in Ramle. 

Duaa, a 30-year-old from Ramle, was murdered at her workplace in a clothing store when a grenade was thrown under the car of the alleged target of the crime, Lynn, a 24-year-old woman from Ramle. The tank of the car caught fire and the blaze reached the store.Duaa’s daughter, Sila, who was 8 years old,and another relative, ten-year-old Mohammad, died with her. Lynn also died in the clothing store, while her baby son, who was about a month and a half old, was seriously injured. The police indicted a 17-year-old boy with the murder of the four victims, which appears to be related to a dispute between two crime families. 

Amal,a 40-year-old woman who was found dead in an apartment in Haifa, with stab marks on her body. Her 19-year-old son was arrested on suspicion of murdering his mother over a family dispute. 

Areej, a 33-year-old nurse from Kesra, who was killed by a gunshot in a car. A man with severe injuries was found next to her body. The police suspect that the man murdered her and then attempted to commit suicide.  

Siham, 10 years old, and Mai, her 29-year-old aunt, were shot dead in Mai’s home in Kufr Qasem, while Mai’s 17-year-old brother was critically wounded. The killers apparently entered the house disguised as policemen and shot the girl and the woman in their beds. The police suspect that the killings were in revenge for the murder of Lynn M. and the three members of the Halawa family in Ramle one month prior.  

Roya, who was 24 years old and the mother of three young children, was murdered in her family home in Lod by a masked man who entered and shot her in the head. Several family members were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder. 

Duaa, a 31-year-old woman from the Negev, was found in the morning with deadly gunfire wounds in the chest.It is suspected that she was shot during the night. Police sources said the background to the murder was apparently a conflict within the family. 

The news of each and every one of these murders touched us deeply. Our mission is that the public does not get used to femicides.The finding of a murdered woman's body should never become a regular news item.  

A very small percentage of femicides in our society is being solved and punished. This reality of impunity encourages the repetition of these heinous crimes. We must insist that every murderer will be found and receive his fair punishment, so that our society will be safer for our women and girls.  

We must notice that an increasing number of women and even little girls fall victim to crimes related to crime organizations, as the intentional target of a dispute between crime families and as accidental victims. We have to pay attention to the degenerate state of our society, which has caused the spread of such crimes. We must point at the absence of a real legal deterrent. It is apparent that the police and law enforcement agencies are not interested in doing anything against the development of crime organizations and spread of illegal weapons in the Palestinian society in Israel.  

In this terrifying reality, we at Kayan work around the clock to provide advice and support to women and girls facing violence and dangers. Every woman who feels any threat to her life or safety can call us on our support and emergency hotline, which is open 24/7. There, she receives psychological and legal support to escape the situation of danger. This year, especially between March and June, we saw an increase in calls regarding domestic violence and gender-based violence. We are working on promoting the hotline further and are running a campaign called “Do you know” that provides important information and encourages women to call us. 

No woman has to face danger alone. We are doing what we can to protect her, though some of the cases detailed above show that even if a woman leaves a situation of domestic violence or complains to the police about her abuser, it might not save her life. To change this, Kayan continues to raise awareness in society for these crimes and for the fact that the police does not do anything to prevent them.  

We are working on educating the public, especially young people, about femicide and sexual and gender-based violence. On our social media pages, we report about each femicide, posting the names and pictures of the victims. We conduct workshops and facilitate youth groups. A highlight of this work is the recent production of a haunting video, in which a group of girls with masks are telling the stories of the victims of femicides from the current year, from their own perspectives: “He woke me up and hit me with the hammer on my head until I lost consciousness, while my children were sleeping in the rooms nearby ...”  

We wish peace and comfort to the families and loved ones of the deceased at this difficult time. 

Nisreen Tabari, 

Director, Kayan – Feminist Organization 

Links:

• Reports about all femicide cases on Kayan's Facebook page
• Reports about all femicide cases on Kayan's Instagram page