UN finds evidence of Hamas sexual violence
A United Nations investigation team has said there is “convincing evidence” of sexual violence against hostages held in Gaza by Hamas militants.
The UN report also said it had “reasonable grounds” to believe that women had been raped before being killed during the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Israel’s foreign ministry said it welcomed the "definitive recognition that Hamas committed sexual crimes" and called for Hamas to be designated a terrorist organisation by the UN and given international sanctions.
The initial report from the team said there was a pattern of victims of the attacks, mostly women, found fully or partially naked, bound and shot across multiple locations. Evidence of rape and gang rape had been found at the Nova music festival site, a road used by the attackers and one kibbutz, Kibbutz Re’im.
“Although circumstantial, such a pattern may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including sexualised torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” the report said.
“In the context of the co-ordinated attack by Hamas and other armed groups against civilian and military targets throughout the Gaza periphery, the mission team found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred in multiple locations during the October 7 attacks.
“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 report also said it had “found clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualised torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment has been committed against hostages” and warned it “has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing against those still held in captivity”.
The document said in other locations, such as Kibbutz Kfar Azza, its investigators could not verify reported incidents of rape. In Kibbutz Be’eri, the mission team determined that at least two allegations of graphic sexual violence, which had been widely reported in the media, were unfounded.
However, it admitted the true prevalence of sexual violence during the October 7 attacks and their aftermath “may take months or years to emerge and may never be fully known”.
It comes as Israel ramped up its criticism of the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees, saying 450 of its employees were members of militant groups in the Gaza Strip, though it provided no evidence to back up its accusation.
Major international funders have withheld hundreds of millions of dollars from the agency, known as UNRWA, since Israel accused 12 of its employees of participating in the October 7 attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and left about 250 others held hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
The attack sparked an Israeli invasion of the enclave of 2.3 million people that Gaza’s health ministry says has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians.