By Anna Schecter—
NBC News
(Warning: this note contains descriptions that may offend some readers)
A senior United Nations official claimed to have “clear and convincing” information that hostages in Gaza have been raped and subjected to other sexual abuse.
Additionally, it found “reasonable grounds” to believe that acts of sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred during the October 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack.
“Based on the information it collected, the mission team found clear and convincing information that acts of sexual violence, including rape, sexual torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment against hostages, have been committed,” the UN said in a statement. report, in which he added that “he has reasonable grounds to believe that this type of violence may continue against those who remain captive.”
Pramila Patten, the agency's special representative for sexual violence during conflict, said in the 23-page report that she could not determine the exact extent of the sexual violence that occurred on October 7.
He concluded that finding out the exact number of sexual assaults and identifying their perpetrators would require in-depth investigation and “could take months or years.”
“In the majority of these incidents, victims first subjected to rape were then murdered, and there are at least two cases of rape of female corpses,” the UN said in a press release on Monday.
Pramila Patten, UN special representative on sexual violence during conflict.UN
The U.N. report said there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that at least five rapes occurred during the Oct. 7 attack, which also involved members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other armed groups.
Patten said his team heard credible accounts of at least two body rapes in and around the Nova music festival, one in front of a bomb shelter at the entrance to Kibbutz Re'im and two on Highway 232, parallel to the Gaza Strip.
“Based on review of available information, including credible eyewitness statements, there are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple incidents of rape, including gang rape, occurred in and around the Nova festival grounds during the 7/7 attacks. October,” the report states.
“Raped and then murdered”
“Reliable information was obtained regarding multiple incidents in which victims were raped and then murdered.
There are more accounts of people who witnessed at least two incidents of rape of women's corpses,” he added.
UN officials mentioned that the reported rape of a woman outside a bomb shelter at the entrance to Kibbutz Re'im was corroborated by witnesses and digital material.
Patten was unable to verify allegations of sexual violence at Kibbutz Be'eri, where Israeli authorities say more than 100 people died.
More than 1,200 people were killed in the attack, according to Israeli authorities.
The subsequent Israeli offensive against Hamas has killed more than 30,000 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry run by the Palestinian group in the enclave.
During his trip, Patten also visited the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet with Palestinian officials and former detainees regarding allegations of sexual violence by Israeli security forces and settlers.
Patten testified that they described rape threats and other dehumanizing behavior against those apprehended, such as forced nudity and invasive body searches.
Israeli officials say they are investigating allegations of misconduct against Palestinians by Israeli security forces and settlers.
As part of their work, Patten said, his team reviewed more than 5,000 photographs and approximately 50 hours of video related to the Oct. 7 attack.
In early December, NBC News reported that evidence, coming primarily from the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli officials, suggested that dozens of women were raped, sexually abused or mutilated during the October 7 attack.
Following Monday's release of the U.N. report, Israeli officials shared with NBC News two dozen images and videos that they claimed to have provided to the U.N. team.
Some of the photos had already been shared with NBC News.
[The Pope recovers his voice after his bronchitis and uses it to demand a ceasefire in Gaza]
The photos and videos showed female bodies stripped of clothing, some with their hands tied behind their backs.
Some with what appeared to be dried blood on the genital areas of the dead women.
Israeli officials told UN investigators that they believed a photo showed several nails being inserted into a woman's lower abdomen and genital area.
They also said they believe another photo shows that a knife had been inserted into a woman's vagina.
Patten said his forensic team could not verify that an object had been inserted into a body based on the photos, which were taken by Israeli first responders as part of their efforts to try to identify the bodies.
NBC News was also shown the photos but
could not independently confirm
that nails or a knife had been inserted into the women's bodies based solely on the images.
In the chaotic period after the attack, Israeli reservists, volunteer first responders, and morgue workers
did not perform autopsies or use rape kits
.
At first they feared there would be Hamas fighters left inside Israel.
They were overwhelmed by the number of deaths.
In some cases, identification of bodies, especially badly burned ones, took weeks or months.
Furthermore, many families, after receiving the bodies, tried to follow the Jewish tradition of burying them within 24 hours.
Shortage of forensic evidence
Patten added that the lack of forensic evidence collection posed a challenge for his team.
Potential witnesses also feared social stigmatization.
[Hunger, thirst and chaos: “The situation in Gaza is not just a catastrophe, it is apocalyptic”]
The trip was not of a research nature, but rather its objective was to collect, analyze and verify information for possible inclusion in the UN's annual report on conflict-related sexual violence, he explained.
Israeli authorities invited Patten on November 8, a month after the attack.
She said she agreed to carry out the mission if she could work freely and independently from Israeli authorities and meet with Palestinians in the West Bank.
Given ongoing military operations in Gaza,
she did not attempt to enter the enclave
, but she noted that other UN entities operate there, including those monitoring conflict-related sexual violence.
After arriving in Israel on January 29, Patten and his team of experts spent 17 days meeting with representatives of 33 Israeli institutions and organizations.
They also visited four places where acts of sexual violence apparently occurred on October 7.
According to the report, the UN team conducted 34 confidential interviews, including witnesses to the October 7 attack, first responders and two freed hostages.
Patten stated that her team did not interview any survivors of sexual violence.
Israeli officials and relatives of the survivors say they continue to receive specialized psychological treatment.
Patten and one of her team leaders, Chloe Marnay-Baszanger, spoke to reporters at the UN on Monday afternoon following the report's release.
When asked by a reporter whether he was able to investigate freely, he stated that the Israeli authorities agreed to his request that no limits be placed on his work.
“I was not accompanied,” she stated.