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Israel rejects UN's claim of war crimes against Palestinian women
'UN mandate holders are motivated not by the truth but by their hatred for Israel and its people,' said Israel's Foreign Ministry
Israel on Monday rejected the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights' (OHCHR) "despicable and unfounded" allegations about the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) war crimes against Palestinian women and girls claimed in the UN experts' report earlier that day.
"These [UN] mandate holders have remained silent on the horrific sexual violence and gender based violence perpetrated by Hamas on and since October 7. It is clear that the co-signatories are motivated not by the truth but by their hatred for Israel and its people."
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Israel accused to the agency of hypocrisy and stressed that the experts' group included some legitimizing the October 7 violence towards Israelis: "so-called UN experts, including one who just days ago legitimised the massacre of October 7 in which more than 1,200 people were murdered, executed and raped, and another who publicly doubted the testimonies of Israeli victims of gender-based and sexual violence."
According to the statement, Israeli authorities did not receive any complaint but they remain "ready to investigate any concrete claims of misconduct by its security forces when presented with credible allegations and evidence."
The group of the UN experts stated they are "shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing. Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces."
Namely, the report suggested many Palestinians were subjected to inhuman treatment through denial of menstruation pads, food and medicine, as well as physical abuse. "On at least one occasion, Palestinian women detained in Gaza were allegedly kept in a cage in the rain and cold, without food."
The UN experts spoke of the "reports that Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence."
It was also stressed that the number of missing women and girls is unknown, and the experts had reports suggesting "at least one female infant forcibly transferred by the Israeli army into Israel, and of children being separated from their parents, whose whereabouts remain unknown."
Israel has accused the UN and its agencies of bias and hypocrisy on multiple occasions since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, and the matter of sexualized violence towards Israelis was no exception. For one, the UN Women expressed its condemnation of the Hamas's actions only eight weeks after the October 7 attack.
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The UN experts have since called for accountability over the Hamas crimes, while Pramila Patten, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict visited Israel in January.
In December, Israel firmly rejected allegations made by the OHCHR, claiming that the IDF was responsible for the killing of at least 11 unarmed Palestinian men in Gaza City.
See more updates on Israel-Hamas war
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