United Nations –

A United Nations mission visiting Israel to investigate reports of rape and sexual abuse of women by Hamas during an October 7 terror attack said on Monday it had received “clear and convincing information” that such violence had occurred, and may remain in captivity.

Pramila Patten, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, told reporters: “We found clear and convincing information that captives were subjected to sexual violence, including rape, sexual torture, cruelty, inhumanity and Degrading treatment.”

She added: “We also have reasonable grounds to believe that this violence may be ongoing against those incarcerated.”

A team of nine technical experts visited Israel from January 29 to February 14 and met with many officials from relevant Israeli ministries, the National Forensic Science Center and military bases. They also traveled to four locations where sexual violence was reported on October 7, including the Nova Music Festival site, where many young people were killed or kidnapped.

In addition, experts reviewed more than 5,000 photos and about 50 hours of attack footage, much of it from GoPro cameras owned by Hamas members. However, Patten said that despite their efforts, they had not met any survivors of sexual violence.

“On day one, I appealed to survivors to come forward, but the information we received showed that a small number of them were receiving very specialized trauma treatment but were not prepared to come forward,” she said.

Patten said the team received full cooperation from the Israeli government and found the information provided to them to be “authentic and not tampered with.”

“real” information

The purpose of the mission was not to collect evidence but to “collect, analyze and verify allegations of conflict-related sexual violence” on 7 October and thereafter.

The U.N. panel said it could not verify some reports of rape and sexual abuse, including the widely reported case of a pregnant woman at Kibbutz Beeri whose uterus was allegedly torn apart and her fetus stabbed before the two died. .

At the Nahal Oz military base, U.N. experts said they could not verify reported rapes and found no clear pattern of genital mutilation among female or male soldiers – although forensic analysis showed injuries to multiple body parts.

Israel immediately disputed the report, criticizing the United Nations hours before it was officially released.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media platform X that he had recalled the UN ambassador to Israel for consultations, accusing the UN of trying to “suppress” Patten’s report.

Katz criticized U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for not ordering the U.N. Security Council to convene and declare Hamas a globally recognized terrorist organization. Currently, the United States, the European Union and other Western countries have listed Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Earlier on Monday, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, also lashed out at Guterres and the U.N.

“If the UN continues to maintain a deafening silence despite the findings in the report, this will certainly be the final nail in the coffin of the UN. It will lose any remaining legitimacy,” he said.

A spokesman for Guterres said the UN secretary-general fully supports Patten’s work.

“The work was done thoroughly and quickly. The Secretary-General did nothing to keep the report ‘quiet,’” said Stephane Dujarric of the report’s public presentation.

Ramallah visit

The UN team also visited Ramallah in the West Bank to hear information on allegations of conflict-related sexual violence against Palestinians by Israeli security forces and settlers since October 7.

Patten said the research team heard from several interlocutors about cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detained Palestinian men and women.

“Sexual violence included forms of invasive body searches, rape threats and prolonged forced nudity,” she told reporters. “Concerns were also raised about disproportionate physical and sexual violence, including sexual harassment and rape threats during nighttime and checkpoint house searches.

“The true incidence of sexual violence during the 7 October attacks and its consequences may take months or years to emerge and may never be fully known, as sexual violence remains a pervasive presence in every conflict-affected setting due to trauma. A crime that has long been underreported, the stigma and fear that survivors face,” Patten said. “But it’s also true in the case of Israel, where many people survive sexual violence.”

Read the full report here.