The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict said in a new report on Monday that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Hamas committed rape, “sexual torture” and other cruel and inhuman treatment of women during a surprise attack in southern Israel on October 7. .
According to Pramila Patten, who visited Israel and the West Bank from January 29 to February 14 with a nine-member team, there are also “reasonable reasons to believe that such violence may continue.”
She explained in the report that the team “found clear and convincing information” that some hostages were subjected to the same forms of conflict-related sexual violence, including rape and “sexual torture.”
The team’s visit “was not intended or authorized to be of an investigative nature,” the Batten report said.
He noted that the team was unable to interview any victims of sexual violence “despite concerted efforts to encourage them to come forward.”
The report explained that team members held 33 meetings with Israeli institutions and conducted interviews with 34 people, including survivors and witnesses of the October 7 attacks, released hostages, health service providers and others.
Based on the information she gathered, Patten said: “There are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the October 7 attacks in multiple locations around Gaza, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations.”
She added that in various locations, the team found that “several bodies were recovered completely naked or partially naked from the waist down – most of them women – who had been handcuffed and shot several times, often in the head.”
She considered that the pattern of stripping and restraining victims “may be an indication of some forms of sexual violence.”
At the Nova Music Festival and surrounding areas, Patten said: “There are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple incidents of sexual violence occurred where victims were raped and/or gang-raped and then killed or killed while being raped.”
According to what was reported, reliable sources described finding dead victims, most of them women, naked from the waist down, and many of them with gunshot wounds to the head.
She continued, saying that on Route 232 (the festival departure route): “Reliable information based on witness accounts describes an incident of rape of two women at the hands of armed elements.”
It also noted that “the mission team also found a pattern of naked or partially naked bodies bound from the waist down, and in some cases tied to structures including trees and poles, along Route 232.”
On Kibbutz Reim, Patten said, “The mission team verified the rape of a woman outside a shelter, and I heard about other rape allegations that have not yet been verified.”
Patten explained that her team at Kibbutz Be’eri “was able to determine that at least two allegations of sexual violence that were widely repeated in the media were unfounded either due to new alternative information or inconsistencies in the facts collected.”
These allegations, according to Patten, included a highly publicized allegation that a pregnant woman’s uterus had been ruptured before she was killed and her fetus inside was stabbed.
This report comes about five months after the October 7 attacks that left about 1,200 people dead and about 250 others taken hostage.
The war Israel has waged against Hamas since then has devastated the Gaza Strip, killing more than 30,000 people, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
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2024-03-04 21:12:40
