Hamas Sexual Assaults During October 7 Attack
United Nations experts reported on sexual assaults by Hamas during the October 7 attacks.
A group of United Nations experts headed by “Pramila Patten,” the UN Secretary-General’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, visited Israel from January 29 to February 14. The purpose of the visit was to collect information regarding sexual violence related to Hamas’s October 7 attacks and to analyze and verify it.
Last Monday, March 4, a group of UN experts released a report and declared: “There are reasonable grounds to believe that sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred during the October 7 attack by the extremist Hamas group on Israel.”
While the United States and many other countries have designated Hamas as a terrorist group and Hamas has repeatedly denied allegations of sexual violence, the United Nations released a 24-page report referencing implicit and documented information indicating certain forms of sexual violence such as female genital mutilation, sexual torture, or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
In the UN report it is stated: “This commission has obtained clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of war-related sexual violence, and there are reasonable grounds to believe that this violence continues to occur.”
Experts also stated that they received information from civil institutions and various individuals through interviews indicating the occurrence of sexual violence against Palestinian men and women in detention facilities or during raids on homes or at checkpoints following the October 7 attack, with these detention facilities located on Israeli soil.
The UN commission emphasized that comprehensive investigations must be conducted to clarify the extent of these sexual violence incidents, and they presented these allegations to Israel’s Justice Ministry and the country’s military prosecutor general. However, they stated that they have not received any complaints from Israeli military forces regarding sexual violence.
“Gilad Erdan,” Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, responded to the report saying: “It took five months for the United Nations to finally acknowledge the occurrence of sexual crimes during Hamas’s attack on Israel. Today, with the release of a report on the sexual abuse suffered by Israeli female hostages, the United Nations is embarrassed. The UN has not held any discussion on this matter so far and has not even held a single meeting on this issue.”
The Israeli ambassador’s remarks come as “António Guterres,” the UN Secretary-General, had previously emphasized the investigation of sexual violence incidents during the October 7 attacks and announced that perpetrators should face legal prosecution.
There are also published reports of recorded conversations showing sexual assault against men and women in the October 7 attacks by Hamas. The following video is about these recorded conversations.
