UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. envoy focusing on sexual violence in dispute stated in a brand-new report Monday that there are “reasonable premises” to think Hamas devoted rape, “sexualized abuse,” and other terrible and inhumane treatment of females throughout its surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
There are likewise “reasonable premises to think that such violence might be continuous,” stated Pramila Patten, who wentto Israel and the West Bank from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14 with a nine-member group.
In the report, she stated the group “found clear and convincing details” that some captives haveactually been subjected to the verysame types of conflict-related sexual violence consistingof rape and “sexualized abuse.”
The report comes almost 5 months after the Oct. 7 attacks, which left about 1,200 individuals dead and some 250 others taken captive. Israel’s war versus Hamas has giventhat laid waste to the Gaza Strip, killing more than 30,000 individuals, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The U.N. states a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million individuals face hunger.
Patten’s report stated the group’s goto “was neither meant nor mandated to be investigative in nature.”
She stated the group was not able to satisfy with any victims of sexual violence “despite collective efforts to motivate them to come forward.” However, group members held 33 conferences with Israeli organizations and performed interview with 34 individuals consistingof survivors and witnesses of the Oct. 7 attacks, launched captives, health companies and others.
Based on the details it collected, Patten stated, “there are sensible premises to think that conflict-related sexual violence tookplace throughout the 7 October attacks in numerous areas throughout Gaza periphery, consistingof rape and gang rape, in at least 3 places.”
via Associated Press
Across different areas, she stated, the group discovered “that numerous completely naked or partly naked bodies from the waist down were recuperated – primarily ladies – with hands connected and shot several times, typically in the head.”
While this is circumstantial, she stated the pattern of undressing and limiting victims “may be asign of some kinds of sexual vio