‘HAMAS TERRORISTS DID RAPE ISRAELIS’

A United Nations investigation has confirmed that extreme acts of sexual violence were carried out by Hamas during the October 7 attacks on Israel and that there is clear and credible evidence that female hostages have been raped.

The UN also said a lack of forensic evidence collected from the scene of the attack means the true extent of violence committed against women may never be fully known.

Pramila Patten, the UN Secretary General’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, recommended a comprehensive investigation, which she said her team’s roughly two-week trip to Israel didn’t set out to undertake.

The team reviewed more than 5000 photos and 50 hours of audio and video of the October ­assault provided by various Israeli state agencies and open sources. They also conducted interviews with survivors and witnesses, as well as police, paramedics and released hostages.

“The true prevalence of sexual violence during the [October 7] attacks and their aftermath may take months or years to emerge,” said Ms Patten in a press briefing. She added they “may never be fully known” given that sexual ­violence tends to be underreported in conflicts due to trauma, stigma and fear faced by survivors, but also because in this case many victims were killed.

Hamas officials have denied its fighters raped women. It didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the UN findings.

The UN report marks the first independent inquiry by an international body outside of Israel to look into reports of sexual violence against women during the attack by Hamas.

Ms Patten and her team also travelled to the West Bank to hear concerns over the treatment of Palestinians held in detention.

The UN report urged Hamas and other armed groups to immediately and unconditionally release all hostages and to ensure protection from sexual violence.

The Wall Street Journal also found evidence of sexual violence on October 7. Photos viewed by the Journal taken by first responders show bodies were mutilated, including sex organs. The bodies of women and girls displayed signs of sexual assault.

In addition to sexual violence, the UN report found widespread mutilation of bodies, including “attempted and actual decapitation, numerous gunshot wounds, and various other forms of extensive violence”.

The Wall Street Journal viewed photographs of at least four victims whose heads were partially or fully decapitated.

The UN team said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual violence occurred at multiple locations, including rape and gang rape in at least three ­locations – the site of a music festival near the Gaza border, a highway and a kibbutz.

In at least two instances, the UN said witnesses saw the rape of two female corpses. Other sources at the music festival reported seeing multiple women and a few men murdered with hands bound behind their backs or tied to trees and poles. Some had gunshot wounds to the head. Some were entirely naked, while others were naked from the waist down, said the report.

Some women who escaped the music festival fled to the nearby Kibbutz Re’im, where the UN said witnesses and digital evidence showed a woman was raped outside a bomb shelter.

The UN said there was clear evidence of “sexual violence, including rape, sexualised torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” against some women and children held in Gaza. The inquiry team said it had reasonable grounds to believe the violence was ongoing. It said the findings were based on first-hand accounts of released hostages.

The report highlighted the challenges Israel faced in conducting a thorough investigation in the days following the attack. Some corpses were booby-trapped. Others were burned, making it impossible to determine what happened to many of the victims.

Also, Israeli first responders, including a group of ultra-Orthodox men, weren’t trained in processing crime scenes and instead collected body parts for burial.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said Israel welcomed Ms Patten’s “definitive recognition” of sexual crimes by Hamas.

The Wall Street Journal