Early Monday morning, a delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hostages, Missing, and Returnees Authority of the Prime Minister's Office, in cooperation with the Families Forum, departed to the United Nations (UN).
The UN report issued by UN Special Representative Pramila Patten was made possible through the efforts of the Families Forum and its legal team, who facilitated Ms. Patten's meetings with released hostages and families of those still captive.
The delegation, which includes family members, along with the Forum’s legal team responsible for enabling the UN investigation, will attend Monday's session in New York.
Just before boarding, the hostages' families held a briefing with the participation of Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz; Coordinator for the captives and the missing Gal Hirsch; and Dr. Shelly Aviv Yeini, Head of the Legal Team of the Families Forum, who initiated the move that led to the issuance of the report.
Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz said: "We will act to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and obtain an unequivocal decision for the immediate return home of all the hostage men and women."
"Tonight we are heading to a special emergency discussion of the Security Council. We succeeded in keeping the issue of returning the hostage men and women at the top of the agenda. Together with the families' representatives, we will speak about the special UN envoy's report on the grave violations committed by Hamas, and we will act to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and obtain an unequivocal decision for the immediate return home of all the hostage men and women."
"The hostages' families thank the three bodies for their cooperation. Such collaborations prove that the entire Israeli public supports the families' justified struggle and will do everything to return all the hostages home," the Forum said.
Dr. Shelly Aviv Yeini added: "Pramila Patten's report is important not only because of acknowledging the historical truths, and not just because of the importance of knowing what happened here on October 7th and recognizing the sexual violations that occurred, but because this is an ongoing crime. There are still sexual violations in captivity, and we need to return everyone. For this we are here, all parties involved in this, because we all know there is no future for this country without returning the hostages."
Nissim Louk, father of murdered hostage Shani Louk, stressed: "On the morning of the holiday, terrorists entered our land, captured the women, raped them and committed other heinous acts. This must receive international recognition. It cannot be that such terrible things happen, and the world ignores it."
"This idea of the delegation, with the Minister and government members who ensured this entire operation was carried out, is a very blessed idea, and really, thank you all. I hope that international awareness of the terrible disaster that befell the people of Israel will lead to the release of all the hostages as soon as possible. We all need to pray."
Yarden Gonen, sister of hostage Romi Gonen, noted: "I want to thank Pramila Patten, who not only is hosting us, but after tremendous efforts by the Hostages Families Forum together with the Foreign Ministry, came to the country, met with families of hostages and released hostages, listened to us professionally and sensitively, and truly produced this report that can finally prove unequivocally, as an absolute UN statement, the violations on October 7th that still pose a risk to our hostage men and women."
"The last thing I want to say: Wake up! We are still on 7/10, this report speaks about it, about what the released hostages describe experiencing during their days in captivity. The last of them was released on day 55, we are finishing day 156! That is another 101 days that each of the hostage men and women are experiencing what they described!"