UN expert will investigate alleged sex crimes by Hamas, Israel says
The United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict has accepted Israel’s invitation to investigate allegations of sex crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The UN official, Pramila Patten, is expected to come to Israel within weeks and has been given investigative powers by the Foreign Ministry, said the spokesperson, Lior Haiat.
Ms. Patten “intends to brief the media based on the findings of her visit upon her return to New York,” said Géraldine Boezio, a spokeswoman for her office.
Last month, The New York Times published this an investigation that revealed new details revealing a pattern of rape, mutilation and extreme brutality against women during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7.
The Times verified video footage and used photographs, mobile phone GPS data and interviews with more than 150 people, including witnesses, medical staff, soldiers and rape counselors, to determine that the attacks were not isolated events but were part of a wider gender pattern. based violence.
In response to the Times investigation, Hamas said in a statement that the group’s leaders “categorically deny such allegations” and called them part of Israel’s attempt to justify the killing of Palestinian civilians.
The group’s statement on December 31 added that the “religion, values and culture” of Hamas fighters prohibit such acts, and claimed that the short duration of the attack before the attackers withdrew to Gaza made the accusations unlikely. It said it would welcome any international investigation into the allegations.
A Hamas spokesman did not respond to an email sent on Tuesday.
Hamas has also denied committing atrocities against civilians during the October 7 attack, but extensive witness statements and evidence, including videos posted by Hamas fighters on social media, indicate that uniformed Hamas gunmen killed civilians in their homes , in cars, on the street. streets and in other environments.
On Monday, two UN human rights experts said the violence committed during the Hamas-led incursion, including sexual atrocities, amounted to war crimes, if not crimes against humanity.