UN Team Discovers Evidence to Back Up Sexual Violence Reports During Hamas Attack
JERUSALEM: A study from the UN on Monday revealed evidence of sexual violence in many areas during the assault on Israel on October 7, which was conducted by Hamas. It was also said that some of the captives in the Gaza Strip had also been victims of sexual torture and rape.
Pramila Patten, the secretary-general’s special envoy on sexual assault in conflict, headed a team of specialists dispatched by the UN to Israel and the West Bank in late January or early February.
The experts stated in their report that they had discovered “reasonable grounds” to suspect that sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, took place during the Hamas-led incursion into Israel. These locations included the area surrounding the Nova music festival site, Road 232, and Kibbutz Re’im.
“In most of these incidents, victims first subjected to rape were then killed, and at least two incidents relate to the rape of women’s corpses,” the study said.
The UN report was released three months after The New York Times published a detailed investigation into sexual assault during the attack conducted by Hamas. It also referenced claims that Palestinians in Israeli detention had also experienced sexual torture. Leaders of Hamas refuted the allegations, and the UN report said that its specialists were unable to identify the perpetrator of the sexual assaults while mentioning the variety of combatants involved in the Oct. 7 attack.
The UN specialists included instances of sexual assault in their study that had not been publicly publicized before, such as the rape of a lady outside a bomb bunker near Kibbutz Re’im’s entrance. The study said that witness testimony and digital evidence supported that occurrence.
Based on the personal testimonies of freed hostages, the investigation said that there was “clear and convincing information” about the sexual assault committed against certain women and children during their imprisonment against the captives who were carried from Israel to Gaza. Additionally, it said that there were good reasons to think that the hostages who were still being held were being abused in this way.
