Israel, UN trade allegations of ‘terrorism,’ torture

UN is accused of taking too long to respond to Israel’s claims of victims raped

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Israel recalled its ambassador to the UN on Monday as tensions erupted over the handling of allegations of sexual assault by Hamas militants during the 7 October attacks.

Israel has accused the UN of taking too long to respond to the claims, a charge the UN has robustly defended itself against as it published a report detailing evidence of Hamas rapes and assaults.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, who was recalled for consultations over the escalating row, said “it took the United Nations five months to finally recognize the sexual crimes committed on 7 October during Hamas’ massacre.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson denied that he had done “anything to keep the report ‘quiet’” after visceral criticism from Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz.

A UN report issued Monday said that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” rapes were committed in Hamas’ attack, and that hostages subsequently taken to Gaza have also been raped.

Israel’s military also released what it said were recordings of “a terrorist working as an Arabic teacher at an UNRWA school... describing his entry into Israeli territory and stating that he is holding female Israeli hostages” following the 7 October attack.

On Monday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA said members of its own staff had been tortured by Israel’s military, which accused the agency of employing more than 450 “terrorists.”

UNRWA said Israeli authorities had “detained several of its staff from the Gaza Strip” who later described abuses in custody.

“Our staff have reported atrocious events while they were detained and during interrogations by the Israeli authorities. These reports included torture, severe ill-treatment, abuse and sexual exploitation,” UNRWA said in a statement to Agence France-Presse.

“Some of our staff have conveyed to UNRWA teams that they were forced to sign confessions under torture and ill-treatment” while being asked about Hamas’ 7 October attack.

Forced confessions were being used to spread misinformation and put UNRWA staffers at risk, the agency said, adding a written protest was sent to Israel — but no response was received.

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