A United Nations (UN) special envoy to Israel has found “clear and convincing information” that Hamas committed acts of sexual violence against Israeli civilians on October 7 and beyond.
Pramila Patten, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, led a team of nine experts from the UN “gathering, analysing and verifying” information on conflict-related sexual violence in Israel, following Hamas’ attack on October 7 2023.
The investigation, conducted from 29 January to 14 February 2024, involved visits to four locations where acts of sexual violence against Israeli women and children allegedly occurred: the Nahal Oz military base, kibbutz Be’eri, the Nova music festival site and Road 232.
Patten and her team reviewed around 5,000 photographs and approximately 50 hours of footage from the October 7 attacks, provided by state agencies, independent private sources and an independent online review.
The special envoy team had dozens of meetings with Israeli national institutions and spoke with 34 Israelis who were survivors and witnesses of the October 7 attacks, released hostages, first responders and others. Patten and the team were unable to meet any victim-survivors of sexual violence during the October 7 attacks, “despite concerted efforts encouraging them to come forward.”
Nevertheless, Patten concluded there are “reasonable grounds” that sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas did occur in Israel, crimes that could potentially be ongoing today.
In context of 7 Oct attack by Hamas & others, UN special representative for @endrapeinwar finds reasonable grounds to believe sexual violence occurred in multiple locations.
— United Nations (@UN) March 5, 2024
She also finds sexual violence committed against hostages & may still be ongoing. https://t.co/KeubjOtv8T pic.twitter.com/TBW82J2F8w
“Based on the first-hand accounts of released hostages, the mission team received clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment occurred against some women and children during their time in captivity and has reasonable grounds to believe that this violence may be ongoing,” the report reads.
“Credible circumstantial information, which may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualised torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, was also gathered.”
Patten said the allegations require “a fully-fledged investigation” into sexual violence throughout the conflict in the Middle East.
Earlier this year, The New York Times published a two-month investigation uncovering details of Hamas fighters committing acts of sexual violence on October 7. The US-based publication identified at least seven locations where Israeli women and girls were sexually assaulted or mutilated on the day of the attack.
Although no victim survivors spoke publicly on the attacks, the details revealed by NYT were egregious and in line with the UN special envoy’s recent findings.
Following the NYT’s investigation, Hamas denied all accusations of sexual violence following the October 7 attacks on Israel.
Patten and the UN special envoy team also visited the West Bank and spoke with Palestinian authorities, human rights groups and some Palestinian detainees, who allege instances of sexual assault against Palestinian women and children have occurred in Israeli detention camps.
Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, which killed up to 1200 Israeli citizens and saw around 250 Israelis taken hostage, was met with a large scale response from the Israeli Defence Force.
The death toll of Palestinian people as a result of the IDF’s military response since October 7 has surpassed 30,000, according to Palestinian authorities. Of these, 8,400 are women, and about 12,300 are children.