The Palestinian group has repeatedly denied allegations that its fighters committed sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack.
A team of United Nations experts has said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.
Led by the UN special envoy on sexual violence, Pramila Patten, the team traveled to Israel between January 29 and February 14 and published a report with its findings on Monday.
The Palestinian group Hamas, which rules Gaza, has repeatedly denied accusations that its fighters committed sexual violence during the attacks.
“Credible circumstantial information was also collected, which may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualized torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” the 24-page UN report reads.
“The mission team found clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence and has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing,” the report also says. .
The report comes almost five months after the October 7 attacks, which killed at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli figures. About 250 more people were taken hostage during the attack.
Since then, Israel's war on Gaza has devastated the besieged territory, killing more than 30,500 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and displacing more than 80 percent of the population. The UN says a quarter of Gaza's 2.3 million people face hunger.
Patten said her team was unable to meet with any victims of sexual violence “despite concerted efforts to encourage them to come forward.”
However, they did hold 33 meetings with Israeli institutions and interviewed 34 people, including survivors and witnesses of the attacks that day, freed captives, and health care providers.
Patten said the team found “that several bodies were recovered completely naked or partially naked from the waist down – mostly women – with their hands tied and shot multiple times, often to the head.”
While circumstantial, he said it could be “indicative of some forms of sexual violence.”
On Highway 232, the road leading out of the Nova music festival, which was part of the attacks and was located on land adjacent to Gaza, “credible information based on witness accounts describes an incident of rape of two women by armed elements.” Patten said. .
Patten said that at Kibbutz Re'im, the team verified the rape of a woman outside a bomb shelter.
At Kibbutz Be'eri, Patten said, his team “was able to determine that at least two allegations of sexual violence widely repeated in the media were unfounded due to overlapping new information or inconsistency in the facts collected.”
Other reported violations could not be verified during the team's stay in Israel.
Experts said a “full investigation” would be required to establish more details about the extent of sexual violence that may have occurred that day.
The UN team said it also received information from civil society sources and direct interviews about “sexual violence against Palestinian men and women in [Israeli] places of detention, during house raids and at checkpoints” after October 7.
The UN envoy raised these allegations with the Israeli Ministry of Justice and the Military Attorney General, who said that no complaints of sexual violence against members of the Israeli army had been received.
