UN and Israel exchange accusations of “terrorism” and torture

United Nations (United States): Tensions escalated over the handling of claims of sexual assault by Hamas militants after the October 7 assaults, prompting Israel to withdraw its ambassador to the UN on Monday.

Israel has said that the UN has been responding to the allegations too slowly. The UN has fiercely refuted this accusation, releasing a report that includes proof of assaults and rapes by Hamas.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which has already had funds withdrawn by many Western nations after Israel accused around a dozen of its staff of complicity in the October 7 assault, is at the center of the increasingly acrimonious dispute.

On Monday, UNRWA revealed that Israeli forces had tortured employees, despite claims by the Israeli military that the organization had hired over 450 “terrorists.”

Following the October 7 incident, the military also made public recordings it said were of “a terrorist working as an Arabic teacher at a UNRWA school… describing his entry into Israeli territory and stating that he is holding female Israeli hostages”.

An AFP count based on official Israeli numbers put the number of dead from the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel at about 1,160, with the majority being civilians.

The health ministry in Gaza, which is managed by Hamas, has released the most recent death toll from Israel’s retaliatory attack, which stands at over 30,500, the majority of whom were women and children.

According to Israel, about 250 captives were captured by terrorists; 130 of them are still in Gaza, 31 of them are thought to be dead.

There were “reasonable grounds to believe” that rapes were perpetrated during Hamas’ onslaught, according to a UN assessment released on Monday, and that captives who were later brought to Gaza had also been raped.

After being summoned back for discussions due to the intensifying dispute, Israel’s envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said that “it took the United Nations five months to finally recognize the sexual crimes committed on October 7 during Hamas’ massacre.”

After harsh criticism from Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a spokeswoman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denied that he had done “anything to keep the report ‘quiet'”.

About 30,000 individuals work for UNRWA in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the occupied Palestinian territories; 13,000 of those employees are based in the Gaza Strip.

In Gaza, where relief organizations warn of impending starvation after almost five months of Israeli bombing, it is at the forefront of attempts to provide humanitarian goods.

UN accusation of torture

“Several of its staff from the Gaza Strip” had been “detained,” according to UNRWA, and they subsequently testified about mistreatment while in detention.

“Our personnel has testified to horrific incidents that occurred both during their detention and during Israeli officials’ questioning. In a statement to AFP, UNRWA said that the allegations included instances of torture, grave ill-treatment, abuse, and sexual exploitation.

When questioned about Hamas’s October 7 assault, “some of our staff have conveyed to UNRWA teams that they were forced to sign confessions under torture and ill-treatment.”

The UNRWA warned that forced confessions were being used to disseminate false information and endanger staff members. It also said that a formal complaint had been issued to Israel, but that Israel had not responded.

“(The) IDF denies general and unsubstantiated claims regarding sexual abuse of detainees in the IDF’s detention facilities,” according to the military.

“These claims are another cynical attempt to create a false equivalency with the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by Hamas.”

None of the statements could be independently confirmed by AFP.

In response to previous Israeli accusations that it was involved in the Hamas assault, UNRWA terminated the suspected staff members and launched an internal investigation.

The director of UNRWA, Phillipe Lazzarini, has said that Israel has not shown any proof against his former staff members and has cautioned that destroying UNRWA would be “short-sighted.”

He warned the UN General Assembly, “By doing so, we will sacrifice an entire generation of children, sowing the seeds of hatred, resentment, and future conflict.”