UN expert's return key for Oct. 7 victims' justice, Israel Women's Network head says

The return of UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, to Israel would be crucial for delivering justice to victims of the October 7 massacre, Tal Hochman, executive director of Israel Women's Network, told Maariv on Sunday. 

"Without international acknowledgment of Hamas's sexual violence and sanctions against them, these crimes are legitimized, and the perpetrators evade accountability," she added.

She criticized the Foreign Ministry for what she claimed was a failure to act on the matter. 

"We call on the government to utilize all diplomatic tools at its disposal to convey to the world, in a strong and clear manner, that sexual violence is not an inevitable consequence of war and must not be tolerated under any circumstances."

Report on sexual violence

From January 29 to February 14, Pramila Patten and her team visited Israel, which resulted in a report, the first of its kind written by a UN body, which confirms that “sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” was perpetrated by Hamas terrorists during their attack.

In her report, Patten stated that the team bore witness to a “pattern” that “may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” in which “victims, mostly women, [were] found fully or partially naked, bound, and shot across multiple locations.”

The report also noted that there was “clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, has been committed against hostages” and that the remaining female hostages were being subjected to ongoing “sexualized torture.”

Later in March, Patten spoke at the UNSC briefing on sexual violence, stating, "What I witnessed in Israel were scenes of unspeakable violence perpetrated with shocking brutality resulting in intense human suffering."