On Tuesday, Hamas dismissed a UN report alleging that Palestinian militants engaged in “sexual violence” during their assault on Israel on October 7, stating that the findings were baseless accusations.
The statement from Hamas indicated that the report by the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, had not documented any testimony from what she referred to as the victims of these cases.
Hamas further mentioned that Patten relied on Israeli institutions, soldiers, and witnesses selected by the occupation authorities to support an attempt to validate the false accusation, which Hamas claimed had been refuted by all investigations.
The report, released on Monday, said it had found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred” on October 7.
The assaults took place in at least three separate locations, and “in most of these incidents, victims first subjected to rape were then killed, and at least two incidents relate to the rape of women’s corpses”, the report said.
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The UN is under fire for its sluggish reaction to Israel’s accusations of rape and sexual violence reportedly carried out by Hamas militants during the October 7 assault and against the captives it detained.
The Hamas attack led to approximately 1,160 fatalities in Israel, with the majority being civilians, as reported by AFP based on Israeli official data.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, overseen by Hamas, Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of at least 30,631 individuals, the majority of whom are women and children.
Israel’s account indicates that militants seized roughly 250 hostages, with approximately 130 still detained in Gaza, among them 31 individuals who are feared to have lost their lives.