Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded on Monday evening to the United Nations report which concluded that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that Hamas terrorists committed acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence during the October 7 massacre in southern Israel.
“Israel welcomes the definitive recognition that Hamas committed sexual crimes by an official UN representative in the important report issued by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat.
“For the first time, a UN official has specifically acknowledged the sexual crimes committed by Hamas and other terrorist organizations on 7 October,” he added.
“The UN also recognizes that the crimes were committed simultaneously in different locations and point to a pattern of rape, torture and sexual abuse.”
“The report also acknowledges the existence of ongoing sexual crimes against the Israeli women and men being held hostage by Hamas and calls for the immediate release of the hostages.”
Haiat stressed that “Israel rejects the report's call to investigate Palestinian claims regarding ‘sexual violence by Israeli elements.’ That is a derisive and deliberate Palestinian maneuver aimed at creating an intolerable equivalence between the horrific crimes that were committed, and continue to be committed, by Hamas and malicious and baseless claims made against Israel and Israelis.”
“Israel also rejects the recommendation to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry of the Human Rights Council (COI), a commission of inquiry known for its hostility, and the hostility of its members led by its chairperson Navi Pillay, towards Israel,” he continued.
“Following the publication of this grave report, Israel is calling for the immediate convening of the Security Council with the aim of designating Hamas as a terrorist organization and the imposition of international sanctions on it,” said Haiat.
“Israel will continue to act resolutely to free the women and men being held hostage and to fight the Palestinian campaign of lies,” he concluded.
Earlier on Monday, Foreign Minister Israel Katz ordered Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan to return to Israel for consultations, in light of attempts to suppress evidence of Hamas' rape and other sexual crimes against Israeli women on October 7.
"I ordered our Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, to return to Israel for immediate consultations regarding the attempt to silence the serious UN report on the mass rapes committed by Hamas and its accomplices on October 7th," Katz wrote on X.
"Despite the authority granted to him, the UN Secretary-General did not order the convening of the Security Council in view of the findings, in order to declare Hamas a terrorist organization and impose sanctions on its supporters. Our daughters are not to be treated as worthless. Anyone who harms them will pay," Katz concluded.