Davin News Server

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) provides
a detailed analysis of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the
Israeli assault on Gaza. The report finds both sides committed war
crimes but concludes there is no evidence to support the claim that
Hamas engaged in mass rape during its rampage in southern Israel. The
COI found evidence of Israel intentionally killing civilians and
Israeli forces engaged in acts of sexual torture. 

The report’s analysis of the events on October 7 concluded Hamas
intentionally targeted two dozen civilian targets, leading to hundreds
of deaths. The COI found evidence that members of Hamas committed
sexual assaults on Israelis, with some female bodies found undressed. 

However, the report debunks the widespread claim that top Israeli and
US officials have often repeated that Hamas engaged in mass rape
during its attack. “The Commission has reviewed testimonies obtained
by journalists and the Israeli police concerning rape but has not been
able to independently verify such allegations,” the report says.
“Additionally, the Commission found some specific allegations to be
false, inaccurate or contradictory with other evidence or statements
and discounted these from its assessment.”

While the assertion that Hamas engaged in mass rape on October 7 has
been widely discussed in the US media, the Palestinian accusations
that Israeli forces have systematically engaged in horrific sexual
violence have gone largely unreported. 

The COI found evidence to back the Palestinian claims that Israel is
engaging in systemic sexual torture and humiliation. “Based on
testimonies and verified video footage and photographs, the Commission
finds that sexual violence has been perpetrated throughout the
[Israeli enforced] evacuation processes.” The report continues,
“Palestinians were made to watch members of their family and community
strip in public and walk completely or partially undressed while
subjected to sexual harassment.”

The Israeli forces inflicted sexual torture on males, according to the
COI. “Males were repeatedly filmed and photographed by soldiers while
subjected to forced public stripping and nudity, sexual torture and
inhumane or cruel treatment,” the report found. 

The COI concluded that the Israeli forces were authorized or allowed
to engage in the sexual abuse. “The Commission concludes that forced
public stripping and nudity and other types of abuse by Israeli
military personnel were either ordered or condoned.” It adds, “These
acts were intended to humiliate and degrade the victims and the
Palestinian community at large by perpetuating gender stereotypes that
create a sense of shame, subordination, emasculation and inferiority.”

Additionally, the Commission found evidence that Israeli forces have
been given the authority to target civilians. “Given information
suggesting relatively low numbers of Hamas militants in proportion to
the wider civilian population, and given Israel’s repeated assertion
that militants are ‘embedded’ within the civilian population,” the
authors of the report conclude, “statements indicate that the Israeli
Government has given [Israeli Security Forces] blanket authorization
to target civilian locations widely and indiscriminately in the Gaza
Strip.”

The COI recommends an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, something the White
House has resisted over the past eight months. Last month, President
Joe Biden unveiled a ceasefire proposal he claimed originated in Tel
Aviv. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to
dismiss the idea of a permanent end to the conflict.

The US has significant leverage over Israel and could condition future
aid to Tel Aviv on Netanyahu ending the onslaught. Nevertheless, Biden
has refused to place any meaningful restriction on arms shipment to
Tel Aviv. 

https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/un-report-details-israeli-war-crimes-during-first-months-of-war-on-gaza/