The Amal Coalition to Combat Violence Against Women and the Forum to Combat Violence Against Women condemn the killings of women, citing two recent incidents. The first involved a 37-year-old woman in the village of Silat al-Harithiya in Jenin, and the second, the killing of 20-year-old Madleen al-Jaraba’a from the al-Zawayda area in the Gaza Strip, allegedly by her father for communicating with her divorced mother. Sources indicate she arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital deceased, bearing signs of physical assault. This is not an isolated incident; since the beginning of this year, there have been 8 killings of women and deaths under suspicious circumstances in the Gaza Strip, and 7 similar cases in the West Bank. This trend is raising concerns among institutions within the Coalition and the Forum, which are working to mitigate threats to the protection of women in Palestine amid escalating violence and rising rates of femicide.

The Forum to Combat Violence and the Amal Coalition are calling for the swift enactment of a Family Protection Law from Violence, based on international conventions. They also urge legal authorities to assume their responsibilities by imposing penalties against perpetrators of femicide, classifying these crimes as premeditated murder, and rejecting any mitigating circumstances that allow criminals to escape punishment. They further demand penalties for those responsible for unintentional killings resulting from the use of weapons within homes.

The organizations call on the governing authorities in both Gaza and the West Bank to uphold equality in legal rights for all citizens, expedite the punishment of perpetrators of femicide or those who disregard women’s lives and subject them to fatal danger, and take strict legal measures to stop violence against women. They also stress the importance of holding police and judicial bodies at all levels accountable for cases of femicide and negligence in protecting women’s lives, and working to disseminate information related to these crimes to the public.

They urge the Palestinian media to unify its discourse towards respecting and protecting women’s rights and to strengthen the role of campaigns against violence against women. The Amal Coalition and the Forum to Combat Violence Against Women affirm their unwavering commitment to harmonizing laws and legislation with the protection of women’s rights, emphasizing their continued efforts to overcome obstacles and expedite the enactment of a Family Protection Law from Violence.