Hamas welcomes UN blacklisting of Israel for sexual violence

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has welcomed the placement of the Zionist occupation entity on the UN's blacklist of perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict zones.

In a statement released on Monday, Hamas said that it “considers the documented evidence and testimonies gathered by the relevant UN mechanisms, an important milestone on the long-awaited path toward holding the occupation's war criminal leaders accountable.”

Hamas further called on “international rights and humanitarian groups to intensify their efforts to document the systematic and horrific crimes committed by the occupation army against the Palestinian people.”

The resistance movement urged them "to work on legally prosecuting its leaders and soldiers and exposing these criminal practices to global public opinion."

The United Nations recently reportedly added Israeli entities to its blacklist of offenders responsible for sexual violence in conflict zones after years of reports regarding torture, degrading treatment, and sexual violence inside Israeli prisons and military detention centers.

The UN is expected to announce the decision soon and add several Israeli entities, including the Israeli Prison Service, to the blacklist.

“We emphasize that this blacklisting must not remain merely a UN record or designation, but must be followed by practical and deterrent measures to halt the violations of the war criminal Netanyahu's regime against international humanitarian law and all international human rights conventions and treaties,” the Hamas statement read.

Hamas emphasized an immediate transition from condemnation to accountability,

“Thereby contributing to holding the perpetrators accountable and ending the impunity that has encouraged the occupation to persist in its crimes.”

Elsewhere in the statement, Hamas urged implementation of the “provision of international protection for Palestinian people, and the prosecution of those responsible for these crimes before the relevant international courts.”

Flotilla activist describes Israeli army’s rape, torture and insults of detainees

Accounts of rape and torture of Global Sumud Flotilla activists by the Israeli army are fueling global outrage and mounting pressure on Tel Aviv.

Media outlets consistently report on allegations of sexual violence and abuse committed by Israeli forces against Palestinians, particularly focusing on the genocidal war in Gaza and in Israeli prisons.

Their coverage emphasizes that these acts are being utilized as deliberate weapons of control and torture.

Back in March, Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, reported that “brutal beatings, sexual violence, rape, lethal mistreatment, starvation, and the systematic deprivation of the most basic human conditions have inflicted profound and lasting scars on the bodies and minds of tens of thousands of Palestinians and their loved ones.”

Since October 2023, abduction of Palestinians in the occupied territory had “escalated dramatically,” with more than 18,500 people arrested, including at least 1,500 children, the report added.

The results of an investigation by The New York Times, published on May 11, also detailed allegations that Israeli soldiers, settlers, and prison guards subjected Palestinian detainees to rape, sexual abuse of children, physical torture, degrading treatment, and other forms of mistreatment.

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