October 7 Attacks, including sexual violence, could be crimes against humanity, say 2 UN experts
Violence, including sexual atrocities committed during the October 7 Hamas-led attacks in Israel, amounts to war crimes and may also constitute crimes against humanity, two United Nations human rights experts said on Monday, after months of frustrated accusations from Israel and women’s groups. that the UN ignored the rape and sexual mutilation of women during the October 7 invasion.
Alice Jill Edwards, a special rapporteur on torture, and Morris Tidball-Binz, a special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said the growing evidence of sexual violence in the wide range of “brutal attacks” that day was “particularly poignant ‘ used to be. pointing to allegations of sexual assault, gang rape, mutilation and gunshots to the genitals.
In a statementThey called for “full responsibility for the multitude of alleged crimes,” and urged all parties to agree to a ceasefire, adhere to international law and investigate any crimes alleged took place during the fighting.
“These acts constitute gross violations of international law, amounting to war crimes which, given the number of victims and the extensive premeditation and planning of the attacks, could also be classified as crimes against humanity,” they said. “There are no circumstances that justify their actions.”
Israeli officials say around 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage on October 7. Investigators from Israel’s top national police unit, Lahav 433, have collected evidence of cases of sexual violence, but have not specified a number. Hamas has denied the allegations of sexual violence.
Responding to Monday’s experts’ statement, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said: said on social media: “Harrowing. Hamas’s heinous acts of sexual violence must be immediately and unequivocally condemned.”
Reports of sexual violence on October 7 were shared in early December during a presentation at UN Headquarters in New York. “Silence is complicity,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Meta’s former director, who helped organize the presentation. Hundreds of protesters outside accused the United Nations of applying a double standard on sexual violence, which the UN has recognized in many other conflicts. Some sang, “Me too, unless you’re a Jew.”
The New York Times published a two-month investigation in late December finding that the attacks on women were part of a pattern of gender-based violence on October 7. The Times identified at least seven locations where Israeli women and girls appeared to have suffered abuse. has been sexually abused or mutilated.
Reporters interviewed witnesses who described women being raped and murdered along a highway, reviewed photos showing a woman’s corpse with dozens of nails driven into her thighs and groin, and spoke with volunteer medics and Israeli soldiers who found at least 24 bodies of women encountered. girls in at least six houses, some mutilated, some tied up, and many naked and alone.