There is clear and convincing information that hostages held in Gaza were sexually abused, according to a new United Nations report. The report suggests that the sexual violence may still be ongoing, highlighting the urgency of rescuing the hostages from Gaza. The report was compiled by the U.S. Special Envoy for Sexual Violence in Conflict, who spent two weeks gathering information from witnesses, including survivors of the October 6th attack by Hamas and released hostages.
The report states that rape was used as a weapon and that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred on October 7th. Despite Hamas denying these allegations as unfounded lies, the UN team faced challenges in conducting their investigation due to limited access and difficulties in obtaining forensic evidence.
