UN Uncovers Evidence of Sexual Violence by Hamas, Hostages Also Victimized

The report details the extreme sexual violence likely perpetrated by Hamas fighters in their October assault, as per Israel’s allegations against the UN for delay and dawdling. A UN investigation has discovered evidence suggesting that terrorists from Hamas likely raped Israeli civilians during the October 7 attack. Additionally, the UN’s evidence shows that Hamas has also employed sexual violence against hostages in Gaza.

The UN’s 24-page report was released on Monday, with coverage by Reuters, Haaretz, and The Times of Israel. Hamas, operating from Gaza Strip, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, alongside a few other Palestinian organizations. Israel reports that 1,139 individuals were killed in the Hamas attack, the majority of whom were civilians. Hamas also took 250 hostages to Gaza, primarily civilians.

Some of the hostages have died in Gaza, while others have been returned to Israel through a prisoner exchange. Among the hostages and the deceased are children, among others. UN special representative on sexual violence, Pramila Patten, collected information about the experiences of Israeli civilians at the beginning of the year. Among other things, Patten met the victims of the Hamas attack, witnesses and representatives of the Israeli armed forces.

He did not meet the victims of sexual violence, as per Israel’s information, only a few of them survived the Hamas attack, and they are not yet ready to discuss their experiences. However, Patten and his team examined around 5,000 pictures and about 50 hours of video footage.

Patten and his team collected data for over two weeks, as per The Times of Israel. Patten did not visit Gaza. According to Patten’s report, there is “reasonable evidence” to judge that Hamas fighters committed rape and other sexual violence during their October attack. Moreover, there is more evidence that Hamas hostages have been victims of sexual violence during their captivity.

According to Patten, it is reasonable to presume that Hamas fighters continue to commit serious sexual violence against hostages in the Gaza Strip. Patten discussed the rape, sexual torture, and cruel, degrading, and inhumane treatment that the hostages are very likely to experience in Gaza.

Rumors and information about Hamas’s brutal sexual violence began to circulate immediately after the October attack, and the Israeli authorities have also collected evidence of what happened. The media have also reviewed footage of the Hamas attack. In early December, both American CNN and the British broadcasting company BBC reported about eyewitnesses who described the actions of Hamas. One witness reported a woman whose genitals had been driven with nails and other objects.

The reservists who participated in identifying the victims also reported about the victims’ broken pelvises, which indicated sexual violence. One reservist told the BBC that sexual violence had been directed at women and girls of all ages. According to Patten’s report, sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred in at least three locations: the Supernova music festival, the Be’er kibbutz, and along Route 232.

One of the most horrific scenes of the Hamas attack was the Supernova festival, where thousands of young adults had gathered to celebrate “unity and love”, as described by the festival organizers. The festival turned into a massacre where 260 people were killed by Hamas fighters. Celebrants were executed and shot indiscriminately.

Patten described the festival attack as a “brutal place of mass murder”. According to Patten, several victims were only partially clothed or completely naked, bound and badly burned. “In most of these cases, the victim was first raped, then killed. In at least two cases, there are indications of rape of the dead woman’s body,” the report states.

Following the report’s release, Israel’s UN ambassador From Gilead accused the UN of slow reaction. “It took five months for the UN to realize the horrors that happened in the Hamas attack in October,” Erdan said in his announcement, according to Israeli media.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused the UN of obscuring the issue and questioned why Secretary-General António Guterres has not convened the Security Council to discuss the report and designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric denied that the UN was obscuring the issue and praised Patten’s report as comprehensive.