Affirming a strong and the much needed next step into the investigation of the sexual violence which has been occurring at the backdrop of the Israel Hamas war on the hostages, a United Nations team has found credible information that hostages taken into Gaza were sexually abused. Pramila Patten, the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict reported of “clear and convincing information” that women and children have been raped, gang raped and tortured sexually. Adding that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that such atrocities were ongoing”.
Patten’s remarks come in the aftermath of her visit to the Israel and the West Bank from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14 with a nine-member technical team. Patten and her team created a 24 page report based on the first hand accounts of the released hostages after almost five months into the October 7 attack, which left 1200 people dead and some 250 taken hostage.
Since then the Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip resulting into the death of almost 30,000 people, and creating a famine like situation. Previously, Hamas has out rightly negated any reports that claimed that its fighters had committed sexual violence and torture.
Patten mentioned that the initial agenda of the team was not to investigate allegations of sexual violence, instead it was to gather, analyze and verify information for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ annual report on sexual violence in conflict and for the U.N. Security Council.
“There are further accounts of individuals who witnessed at least two incidents of rape of corpses of women,” Patten said. “Other credible sources at the Nova music festival site described seeing multiple murdered individuals, mostly women, whose bodies were found naked from the waist down, some totally naked,” some shot in the head, some tied to trees or poles with their hands bound.
Patten added the road to leave the festival — “credible information based on witness accounts describe an incident of the rape of two women by armed elements.” “Along this road, several bodies were found with genital injuries, along with injuries to other body parts,” she said. “Discernible patterns of genital mutilation could not be verified at this time but warrant future investigation,” it was added.
Although circumstantial, the report continued, “such a pattern of undressing and restraining of victims may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence.”
There were reports, that women were sexually assaulted outside a bomb shelter and some other allegations of rape that could not yet be verified. Informing about the Kibbutz Be’eri Patten said, outside a bomb shelter and heard of other allegations of rape that could not yet be verified.
Patten in her address highlighted that the group’s finding did not intended to be investigative in nature. However, the results which came after the team’s 33 meetings with Israeli Institutions while in Israel, meeting survivors, and witnesses of the October 7 attack, and reviewing footages of atleast 50 hours of the attacks revealed information which needed to be brought to the fore.
In the context of persistent appeals for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza from various quarters, including the United States and Bharat, UN envoy Patten’s findings offer a comprehensive perspective on the events unfolding in Israel. It sheds light on the current measures taken by Israel to safeguard its national integrity, prompting debates on the appropriateness of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
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