UNITED NATIONS: The UN envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict said in a new report Monday that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
There are also “reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing,” said Pramila Patten, who visited Israel and the West Bank from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14 with a nine-member technical team.
Based on first-hand accounts of released hostages, she said the team “found clear and convincing information” that some women and children during their captivity were subjected to the same conflict-related sexual violence including rape and “sexualized torture.”
The report comes nearly five months after the Oct. 7 attacks, which left about 1,200 people dead and some 250 others taken hostage. Israel’s war against Hamas has since laid waste to the Gaza Strip, killing more than 30,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The UN says a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people face starvation.
Hamas has rejected earlier allegations that its fighters committed sexual assault.
Patten stressed at a press conference launching the report that the team’s visit was not to investigate allegations of sexual violence but to gather, analyze and verify information for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ annual report on sexual violence in conflict and for the UN Security Council.
Her key recommendation is to encourage Israel to grant access to the UN human rights chief and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Palestinian territories and Israel “to carry out full-fledged investigations into the alleged violations” — and she expressed hope the Security Council would do this.
Patten said the team was not able to meet with any victims of sexual violence “despite concerted efforts to encourage them to come forward.” While the number of victims remains unknown, she said, “a small number of those who are undergoing treatment are reportedly experiencing severe mental distress and trauma.”
However, team members held 33 meetings with Israeli institutions and conducted interviews with 34 people including survivors and witnesses of the Oct. 7 attacks, released hostages, health providers and others.
Based on the information it gathered, Patten said, “there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations.”
Across various locations, she said, the team found “that several fully naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down were recovered – mostly women – with hands tied and shot multiple times, often in the head.”
While this is circumstantial, she said the pattern of undressing and restraining victims “may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence.”
At the Nova music festival and its surroundings, Patten said, “there are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple incidents of sexual violence took place with victims being subjected to rape and/or gang rape and then killed or killed while being raped.”
“There are further accounts of individuals who witnessed at least two incidents of rape of corpses of women,” Patten said. “Other credible sources at the Nova music festival site described seeing multiple murdered individuals, mostly women, whose bodies were found naked from the waist down, some totally naked,” some shot in the head, some tied to trees or poles with their hands bound.
On Road 232 — the road to leave the festival — “credible information based on witness accounts describe an incident of the rape of two women by armed elements,” Patten said. Other reported rapes and gang rapes couldn’t be verified and require investigation.
“Along this road, several bodies were found with genital injuries, along with injuries to other body parts,” she said. “Discernible patterns of genital mutilation could not be verified at this time but warrant future investigation.”
She said “the mission team also found a pattern of bound naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down, in some cases tied to structures including trees and poles, along Road 232.”
People fleeing the Nova music festival also attempted to escape south and sought shelter in and around kibbutz Reim where Patten said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe sexual violence occurred.
The mission team verified the rape of a woman outside a bomb shelter and heard of other allegations of rape that could not yet be verified.
At Kibbutz Be’eri, Patten said, her team “was able to determine that at least two allegations of sexual violence widely repeated in the media, were unfounded due to either new superseding information or inconsistency in the facts gathered.”
These included a highly publicized allegation that a pregnant woman’s womb was reportedly ripped open before being killed with her fetus stabbed inside her, Patten said.
Another was “the interpretation initially made of the body of a girl found separated from the rest of her family, naked from the waist down,” she said. “It was determined by the mission team that the crime scene had been altered by a bomb squad and the bodies moved, explaining the separation of the body of the girl from the rest of her family.”
Patten said further investigation is needed of allegations, including of bodies found naked and in one case gagged, at kibbutz Be’eri to determine if sexual violence occurred.
At Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Patten said, verification of sexual violence was not possible. But she said “available circumstantial information – notably the recurring pattern of female victims found undressed, bound, and shot – indicates that sexual violence, including potential sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, may have occurred.”
On Oct. 7, the Nahal Oz Military Base, which operated as a hub for signals intelligence and monitoring of the Gaza perimeter fence, was also breached by Hamas and “a significant number” of male and female soldiers stationed there were killed, and seven young female soldiers were abducted and taken to Gaza, Patten said.
Patten stressed that “the true prevalence of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attacks and their aftermath may take months or years to emerge and may never be fully known.”
UN envoy says ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe Hamas committed sexual violence on Oct. 7
https://arab.news/bbchw
UN envoy says ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe Hamas committed sexual violence on Oct. 7
Egyptian foreign minister stresses importance of maintaining Gaza ceasefire
- Reconstruction plan for Gaza will be presented at upcoming Arab emergency summit in Cairo
- EU is ‘investing in multilateral programs to empower Palestinians and keep Gaza on the map’
LONDON: Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Minister Badr Abdelatty on Sunday stressed the importance of fully implementing the ceasefire agreement in Gaza after a meeting with Dubravka Suica, the European commissioner for the Mediterranean.
Abdelatty emphasized during a joint press conference in Cairo with Suica the urgent need to immediately begin negotiations for the second phase of the agreement between Israel and Hamas.
He highlighted the need to maintain the ceasefire, release all Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners according to the deal’s terms, and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The minister said: “Egypt, Qatar, and the US are playing an active role, and we want to emphasize the importance of implementing (the ceasefire). We must begin discussions on the second phase.”
Israel blocked aid trucks from entering Gaza on Sunday, escalating a standoff over the six-week ceasefire, prompting Hamas to seek intervention from Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
A proposed US temporary ceasefire would pause fighting until the end of Ramadan, around March 31, and the Jewish Passover holiday, around April 20. However, this ceasefire would be contingent upon Hamas releasing half of the hostages, both living and deceased, on the first day. The remainder would be released at the end of the ceasefire period.
Hamas has reaffirmed its commitment to the original ceasefire, intended to lead to negotiations for a permanent end to the conflict in Gaza.
Abdelatty stressed that goodwill and commitment from all parties would ensure the success of these discussions for a permanent ceasefire, the Emirates News Agency reported.
He stressed that a political process should follow the ceasefire to establish a Palestinian state and called on all parties to ensure effective humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza, rejecting its use as a collective punishment against Palestinians.
Abdelatty said that the reconstruction plan for Gaza would be presented at the upcoming Arab emergency summit this week in Cairo, and that discussions with the EU and other countries to secure international support would take place.
Suica said the EU was “investing in multilateral programs to empower Palestinians and keep Gaza on the map.” She added that she hoped a ceasefire agreement would help in “paving the way for a two-state solution, which the EU supports and believes should come without preconditions.”
Turkiye’s Kurds say PKK militants heeding jailed leader’s peace call is the right move
- The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkiye and its Western allies
DIYARBAKIR, Turkiye: Residents in Diyarbakir, Turkiye’s largest Kurdish-majority city, said on Sunday that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) decision to heed its jailed leader’s call for peace was correct and prosperity would follow if the decades-old conflict ended.
On Saturday, the PKK declared an immediate ceasefire, a news agency close to it said, heeding jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan’s disarmament call, in what could be a major step toward ending a 40-year insurgency that has killed more than 40,000 people.
President Tayyip Erdogan’s government, its nationalist ally, and the pro-Kurdish DEM Party have voiced support for the peace call. However, Erdogan also warned that Ankara would resume military operations against the militant group if promises are not kept.
Zihni Capin, a teacher, said in Diyarbakir that people were “exhausted both mentally and physically” by the conflict, and added he hoped the process would conclude in a way that contributes to “prosperity, peace and happiness” in the region.
“I think it is a very correct and appropriate decision. Hopefully, the process will meet the expectations of all the people in Turkiye and the Middle East,” he said.
The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkiye and its Western allies. It called on Saturday for greater freedoms for Ocalan, who has been kept in near total isolation since 1999, to advance the disarmament process, but Ankara has said there would be no negotiations.
Tuncer Bakirhan, co-chair of DEM, said on Sunday that political and legal adjustments were now “inevitable” after the peace call, and added that Turkiye’s parliament had a “historic role” to play.
“This process is not one that should be squandered. It must not remain on paper only,” Bakirhan told DEM members in Ankara. “The call is not one for winning and losing... There is no winner, no loser,” he added.
The ceasefire could have wide-ranging implications for the region if it succeeds in ending the conflict between the PKK — now based in the mountains of northern Iraq — and the Turkish state.
It could also give Erdogan a domestic boost and a historic opportunity to bring peace and development to southeast Turkiye, where the conflict has killed thousands and severely damaged the economy.
Zulkuf Kacar, who works as a purchasing manager outside Turkiye, said those who lay down arms need to be given amnesty.
“Enough is enough, this suffering. This suffering needs to end,” Kacar said in Diyarbakir.
Paramilitary shelling kills six in Sudan’s North Darfur: rescuers
- In December, a United Nations-backed assessment said famine had taken hold in Abu Shouk and two other camps in the El-Fasher area, Al-Salam and Zamzam, and was projected to expand to five more areas including the city itself by May
PORT SUDAN: Paramilitary artillery shelling of a crowded market and nearby displaced people’s camp in Sudan’s Darfur region killed six people on Sunday, local health volunteers said.
The camp, Abu Shouk, is on the edge of the North Darfur state capital, El-Fasher, which paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have besieged since last May as part of the nearly two-year-old war against Sudan’s army.
The shelling “resulted in the deaths of six unarmed civilians so far, with other injuries yet to be counted,” said the local Emergency Response Room, one of hundreds of volunteer groups across war-torn Sudan helping to evacuate wounded, staff soup kitchens and maintain health services.
“This attack... struck the crowded market while civilians were shopping for Ramadan necessities,” the committee added, blaming the RSF.
The Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which started on Saturday in Sudan, comes as the northeast African country continues to grapple with war, starvation and displacement.
In December, a United Nations-backed assessment said famine had taken hold in Abu Shouk and two other camps in the El-Fasher area, Al-Salam and Zamzam, and was projected to expand to five more areas including the city itself by May.
The RSF have seized nearly the entire vast western region of Darfur.
However, they have not managed to claim El-Fasher, where army and allied forces have repeatedly pushed them back.
Sudan’s war has so far killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 12 million and brought millions to the brink of mass starvation.
On Wednesday the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said intense fighting in Zamzam camp had forced it “to temporarily pause the distribution of life-saving food and nutrition assistance” there.
UN urges Israel to restore Gaza aid as Hamas sees ‘coup’ against truce
- “Since the morning we haven’t seen any trucks entering,” said a resident of Rafah on Gaza’s southern border
- She warned of a “crisis” as the prices of basic commodities surged “as soon as the merchants heard about the closing of the crossing”
JERUSALEM: The United Nations on Sunday called on Israel to immediately allow aid into Gaza, hours after it suspended humanitarian deliveries into the war-battered territory as talks on a truce extension appeared to hit an impasse.
With uncertainty looming over the truce, both Israel and Palestinian sources reported Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip which the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said killed at least four people.
The 42-day first phase of the ceasefire drew to a close, and early on Sunday Israel announced a truce extension until mid-April that it said US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had proposed.
Hamas has repeatedly rejected an extension, instead favoring a transition to the truce deal’s second phase that could bring a permanent end to the war.
The Palestinian group, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the fighting, said the “decision to suspend humanitarian aid is cheap blackmail, a war crime and a blatant coup against the (ceasefire) agreement.”
In a statement posted online, UN chief Antonio Guterres called for “humanitarian aid to flow back into Gaza immediately,” urging “all parties to make every effort to prevent a return to hostilities” and militants to release “all hostages.”
The head of the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA, Thomas Fletcher, said in a post on X that “Israel’s decision to halt aid into Gaza is alarming” and may be in violation of international law.
Following the announcement of the aid suspension, AFP images showed trucks loaded with goods lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.
“Since the morning we haven’t seen any trucks entering,” said Umm Mohammad Abu Laia, a resident of Rafah on Gaza’s southern border.
She warned of a “crisis” as the prices of basic commodities surged “as soon as the merchants heard about the closing of the crossing.”
The first phase of the truce, which took effect on January 19, saw an increase of aid into Gaza, where the war destroyed or damaged most buildings, displaced almost the entire population and triggered widespread hunger, according to the UN.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, asked by reporters about the risk of starvation, dismissed such warnings as “a lie.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had “decided that, from this morning, all entry of goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip will be suspended.”
It said there would be “consequences” for Hamas if it did not accept the temporary truce extension, which would cover the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover.
On a sandy street in Gaza City, Mays Abu Amer, 21, expressed hope the ceasefire can continue “forever.”
“We have so much destruction, we need a lot of time for reconstruction,” she said.
Mediator Egypt and the International Committee of the Red Cross have appealed for the truce to be maintained.
Militant group Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally, accused Israel of “sabotaging” the ceasefire.
According to Israel, the truce extension would see half of the hostages still in Gaza freed on the day the deal came into effect, with the rest to be released at the end if an agreement was reached on a permanent ceasefire.
Of the 251 captives taken during Hamas’s October 2023 attack, 58 remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.
In Israel, mourners who turned out to farewell Shlomo Mansour, 85, whose body militants had held in Gaza and returned to Israel on Thursday, said more should be done to get the remaining captives home.
“Return all of them immediately,” said Vardit Roiter.
Under the first phase of the truce, Gaza militants handed over 25 living hostages and eight bodies, including Mansour’s, in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners.
Israelis in Jerusalem welcomed the decision to block aid, describing it as a way to pressure Hamas into making concessions.
Neria, a 27-year-old teacher who only gave his first name, told AFP it was a “smart move” that could “push forward new things, the release of more hostages and the end of the war.”
In southern Gaza on Sunday, the civil defense agency reported shelling and gunfire “from Israeli tanks,” which the army said it was “unaware of.”
The Palestine Red Crescent said Israeli drone strikes killed one person in the same area and another in a nearby town.
The military said it had conducted an air strike in northern Gaza targeting suspects it said had “planted an explosive device” near its troops.
Including the deaths on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry has recorded 116 people killed by Israel’s military since the ceasefire took effect on January 19, substantially reducing violence.
The 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, while Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed more than 48,300 people, also mostly civilians, data from both sides show.
Israeli settlers stormed Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound 20 times in February — report
- Israeli authorities repeatedly blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron
- Awqaf documents Israeli violations against several West Bank mosques during military operations
LONDON: Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound in East Jerusalem’s Old City almost 20 times in February, according to a monthly report by the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs.
The ministry also reported that the number of Israeli settlers touring the Al-Aqsa compound under police protection increased in February. During the same period, Israeli authorities blocked calls to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron a total of 44 times.
Israeli authorities prevented some employees from accessing the mosque in February following the removal of the mosque’s director, Sheikh Moataz Abu Sneineh, from the site, the ministry said.
Access to the mosque, located in Hebron’s Old City, is possible only through an Israeli military checkpoint that surrounds the area.
The ministry condemned the Israeli escalation in Jerusalem and Hebron as Israel announced new restrictions on access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, which began on Saturday. It said that measures introduced at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque were an attempt to “empty the mosque of its people and employees.”
Israeli violations were also documented against several West Bank mosques during night raids and military operations in February. These included Barqa Mosque, northwest of Nablus, and Salah Al-Din Mosque in the town of Abu Dis, in East Jerusalem.
In Kasra village, south of Nablus, the ministry said Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters in front of the town’s mosque during the Maghreb call to prayer, causing difficulty in breathing for some worshippers inside the mosque.
The ministry urged international organizations to halt Israeli violations in order to preserve religious, heritage, and historical sites in Palestine, according to a statement.
