Israel rejects UN allegations that its forces have sexually abused detained Palestinians

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. chief warned Israel that the United Nations has “credible information” of sexual violence and other violations by Israeli forces against detained Palestinians, which Israel’s U.N. ambassador dismissed as “baseless accusations.”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter to Ambassador Danny Danon that he is “gravely concerned” about reported violations against Palestinians by Israeli military and security forces in several prisons, a detention center and a military base.

Guterres said he was putting Israeli forces on notice that they could be listed as abusers in his next report on sexual violence in conflict “due to significant concerns of patterns of certain forms of sexual violence that have been consistently documented by the United Nations.”

Danon, who circulated the letter and his response Tuesday, said the allegations “are steeped in biased publications.”

“The U.N. must focus on the shocking war crimes and sexual violence of Hamas and the release of all hostages,” he said.

Danon was referring to the militant group’s surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, where some 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage. Israeli authorities said women were raped and sexually abused.

The Hamas attack triggered the ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed more than 61,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but that about half were women and children.

Danon stressed that “Israel will not shy away from protecting its citizens and will continue to act in accordance with international law.”

Because Israel has denied access to U.N. monitors, it has been “challenging to make a definitive determination” about patterns, trends and the systematic use of sexual violence by its forces, Guterres said in the letter.

He urged Israel’s government “to take the necessary measures to ensure immediate cessation of all acts of sexual violence, and make and implement specific time-bound commitments.”

The secretary-general said these should include investigations of credible allegations, clear orders and codes of conduct for military and security forces that prohibit sexual violence, and unimpeded access for U.N. monitors.

In March, U.N.-backed human rights experts accused Israel of “the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence.”

The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said it documented a range of violations perpetrated against Palestinian women, men, girls and boys and accused Israeli security forces of rape and sexual violence against Palestinian detainees.

At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the U.N. Human Rights Council, which commissioned the team of independent experts, as an “anti-Israel circus” that “has long been exposed as an antisemitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting, and irrelevant body.” His statement did not address the findings themselves.