Israel fumes as UN secretary-general leaves Hamas off sexual violence blacklist

In his report, Guterres referenced Patten’s assessment, but noted that it, “not being investigative in nature and given its limited duration, did not draw conclusions on attribution to specific armed groups or determine prevalence of incidents of conflict-related sexual violence during and after the attacks of 7 October. Such a determination would require a fully-fledged investigation.”

The Ynet outlet, in an unsourced report, said Israeli representatives spoke with UN officials about Hamas not being blacklisted and were told that there is a process to include an organization in the roster that involves identifying a trend and then specific cases. UN officials also pointed out that there has not yet been a full investigation of the October 7 attacks and asserted that it was not possible to determine if Hamas planned sexual crimes as part of its attack, or if they were carried out spontaneously by individuals, including Gazans who entered Israel while trailing the attacking terrorists.