UN expert says claims of systematic sexual violence on 7 October remain unverified as Israel releases new report

A new Israeli report alleging that Hamas used sexual violence as a “weapon of war” during the 7 October attacks is facing renewed scrutiny after a senior United Nations official said there is no independent evidence for the Israeli claim.

“It is my understanding that neither the [UN] Commission nor any other independent human rights mechanism established that sexual or gender-based violence was committed against Israelis on or since the 7 October as a systematic tool of war or as a tool of genocide,” said Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, in a statement.

Alsalem’s remarks came in response to the publication of “A Quest for Justice,” a new report authored by Israeli legal and gender experts under the Dinah Project, which claims that sexual violence was a coordinated tactic used by Hamas during its 7 October incursion into southern Israel.

The authors say they gathered evidence from at least 17 incidents of sexual assault, including cases involving rape, mutilation, forced nudity, and alleged sexual abuse of hostages during captivity in Gaza. It also claims male hostages experienced “sexual humiliation” and calls on the UN to designate Hamas as an organisation that systematically employs sexual violence in warfare.

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However, international experts have cautioned against accepting such claims without independent verification. Alsalem noted that although the UN Commission of Inquiry had “found patterns indicative of sexual violence against Israeli women at different locations,” it was “unable to independently verify specific allegations… due to Israel’s obstruction of its investigations.”

Hamas has denied committing any sexual crimes during the attack, which left over 1,200 Israelis dead. However, a significant number of those fatalities are believed to have resulted from Israel’s use of the so-called “Hannibal Directive”—a controversial military protocol designed to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers or civilians, even at the cost of their lives. During the 7 October attack, the directive was reportedly invoked in multiple locations, including at the Nova music festival and several military outposts, where Israeli forces fired heavy weaponry at sites where hostages were being held or had sought refuge.” 

In March, the UN Human Rights Council released a separate report documenting Israel’s “systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence” since its assault on Gaza began. Titled “More than a human can bear,” the report concluded that Israel’s attacks have disproportionately targeted women and children, and that the destruction of healthcare and civilian infrastructure has inflicted severe gender-based harm on the population.

Since 7 October, Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to Gaza health officials. UN agencies and human rights experts have repeatedly accused Israel of targeting civilians and of possible war crimes, including the use of starvation as a weapon.

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