A United Nations report published this Monday stated that there are "reasonable grounds" that Hamas used sexual torture in its attack on Israeli territory on October 7. He also pointed out the existence of evidence that the hostages held in the Gaza Strip also suffered this type of violence.
UN special envoy Pramila Patten, who led the team's visit to Israel and the West Bank between January 29 and February 14, said that in their work on the ground they found clear and convincing information that Hamas committed violations. and other cruel and inhuman treatment, especially against women, during the surprise attack carried out in Israeli territory, near the border with Gaza.
Israel's denunciation of this type of violence and the lack of its condemnation by the United Nations provoked severe criticism of Israel's mission and its government to the UN. This is one of the elements on which Israel relied to forge the narrative that the multilateral organization was prejudiced towards its country and was biased in favor of Palestine.
The ruling comes almost five months after the Hamas attack in which some 1,200 people died and another 250 were taken hostage, of whom more than a hundred are still missing. As a result of this, Israel launched a retaliatory operation that has claimed some 30,000 lives, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The UN estimated that at least a quarter of the strip's 2.3 million inhabitants are suffering from starvation.
Patten explained that they were not able to find any victims of sexual violence, despite efforts to encourage them to speak out. However, her team held 33 meetings with members of Israeli institutions and conducted interviews with 34 people, including survivors and witnesses of the October 7 attack, freed hostages, health workers and others.
Based on the information collected, the special envoy highlighted that there are clear indications to believe that there was sexual violence that day, during the assault on multiple locations on the outskirts of Gaza, on Israeli soil, with cases of individual and collective gang-style rapes. in three of those places.
In some of these sites, the United Nations team gathered that they found several bodies completely or partially naked, from the waist down, most of them women, with their hands tied and shot multiple times, often in the head. Some of these bodies were tied to poles.
Although circumstantial, Patten stated that the pattern of naked and bound victims “may indicate some type of sexual violence.” In the surroundings of the Nova music festival, they found reasons to support that numerous incidents of sexual violence were recorded with victims of rape or murdered in the middle of the attack.
The report also stated that they learned of allegations in which sexual violence had been committed by members of the Israeli security forces and settlers from the occupied territories against Palestinian citizens. They allegedly suffered “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment during their detentions, including forms of sexual violence and abusive body searches, threats of rape and prolonged periods of nudity.
Patten clarified that his mission was not intended to carry out an investigation, other agencies have this mandate, he said, but rather that they should give a voice to victims and survivors and offer them ways to provide support.
The UN team was made up of experts who can interpret forensic evidence, analyze digital information and conduct interviews with victims and witnesses of sexual violence, the document specified.
