U.N. sexual violence envoy: Israelis were raped, sexually tortured on October 7

"A mission team led on a trip through Israel by United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, found that there was substantial evidence to conclude that both hostages and survivors of October 7 were sexually abused and raped by Hamas terrorists.

Patten, therefore, called on Hamas to ‘immediately and unconditionally release all individuals held in captivity and to ensure their protection, including from sexual violence.’

The team, traveling and researching with Israel’s full cooperation, found ‘clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment has been committed against hostages.’

They have ‘reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing against those still held in captivity.’

Patten’s team, which visited throughout the first two weeks of February, was comprised of ‘nine experts drawn from the United Nations, including… specialists trained in safe and ethical interviewing of survivors/victims and witnesses of sexual violence crimes; a forensic pathologist; and a digital and open-source information analyst.’

The team also found ‘that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred in multiple locations during the 7 October attacks, including rape and gang-rape in at least three locations, namely: the Nova music festival site and its surroundings, Road 232, and Kibbutz Re’im.’

This region was the same area specified in the report released two weeks prior by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI), which summed up the evidence available so far regarding sexual violence on October 7.

‘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 stated, once again confirming what the ARCCI had reported.

Patterns of sexual violence uncovered during investigation

They found a ‘pattern’ that ‘may be indicative of some forms of… sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment’ in which ‘victims, mostly women, [were] found fully or partially naked, bound, and shot across multiple locations.’

This was based on piles and piles of evidence, including 50 hours of footage, 5,000 photographs, and 34 independent interviews..."