Two UN Human Rights experts demanded on Monday that the perpetrators of alleged sexual crimes committed by members of Hamas be punished. during the October 7 attack in Israel.
They stressed that these alleged crimes constitute serious violations of international law and could “be classified as crimes against humanity.”
“The growing evidence of sexual violence is particularly heartbreaking,” the organization said in a statement. UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, and the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, Morris Tidball-Binz.
Both reported “allegations of sexual torture (including) rape, gang rape, sexual assault, mutilation and shooting of the genitals.”
“Bodies of women were found with their clothes pulled up to their waists, their underwear removed or torn, or stained with blood,” they added.
Posters calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Angie Ruiz. TIME
These two officials are independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.
The UN has been criticized for responding too slowly to the rape and sexual violence allegedly committed during the October 7 attack.
That assault left around 1,140 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on Israeli figures.
In addition, some 250 people were kidnapped, of whom about a hundred were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a truce at the end of November.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas after the attack.
Its offensive has left more than 23,000 dead in Gaza, a territory controlled by Hamas since 2007, according to the Islamist movement's Ministry of Health.
AFP
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