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Curated By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Last Updated: March 05, 2024, 10:39 IST
United Nations, United States
Demonstrators hold signs against what they describe as international silence over sexual violence perpetrated against Israeli women during the attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, at a protest in Jerusalem. (Image: Reuters)
Pramila Patten, the UN official probing sexual violence, said some hostages were raped and hostages still held in Gaza could be facing sexual violence.
A UN report published this week said that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” rapes were committed during Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel. The report released Monday by the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten said that the hostages subsequently taken to Gaza have also been raped.
Patten in her report said that the officials found “clear and convincing information” that some hostages had been raped, and believes “that such violence may be ongoing against those still held” in Gaza Strip. Over 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza.
Patten’s report is based on UN officials’ visit to southern Israel which was conducted in the month of February. She and other experts visited Israel and the West Bank for two and a half weeks in early February. The UN also faced criticism for reacting too slowly to the rapes and sexual violence that Israel accuses Hamas of committing on October 7.
“In the context of the coordinated 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 7 October attacks, including rape and gang-rape,” the report said.
These happened in at least three locations — the Nova music festival site and its surroundings, Road 232, and Kibbutz Re’im, it added.
“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 said.
Despite calls for victims of sexual violence to come forward and testify, none did. However, members of the mission were able to interview survivors and witnesses of the October 7 attacks, as well as members of the health services.
They viewed 5,000 photographs and 50 hours of footage of the attacks. They were also able to talk to some of those hostages who had been released.
(with inputs from AFP)
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