UN Secretary-General report accuses Israeli forces of rape, sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees
Pramila Patten, right, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the war in Gaza, 11 March 2024, at UN headquarters
Liza Rozovsky reports in Haaretz on 29 May 2026:
A UN report says Secretary-General António Guterres has added Israeli security forces to a UN list of parties accused of sexual violence in conflict, according to an annual document submitted to the Security Council and seen by Haaretz.
The report says Israel Defense Forces, Israel Prison Service and the border police Counter Terrorism Unit are responsible for alleged abuses against Palestinians, primarily in detention settings, and calls on Israel to prevent such violations and hold those responsible to account.
According to the Secretary General’s report on conflict-related sexual violence, in 2025 the United Nations verified numerous cases of sexual violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including through torture. The report states that the United Nations identified 31 victims from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank: 14 men, seven women, nine children and one girl. Thirteen of the cases occurred in 2025, while 18 took place in 2023 and 2024.
“Violations consisted of rape, including with objects, gang rape, attempted rape, physical violence to the genitals, instances of targeted shooting of the genitals, touching of breasts and genitals, strip and cavity searches conducted without apparent security justification, forced nudity and threats of rape,” the report said.
According to the report, nine victims, most of them Gaza residents, were subjected to rape and gang rape, in some cases repeatedly.
The report says that most of the offenses were carried out during the detention and interrogation of Palestinians at several facilities, including military camps such as the Sde Teiman base and the Etzion detention centre, as well as in Israeli prisons Megiddo, Ofer, Ramla, HaSharon, Shatta, Nafha and Damon and the Gush Etzion police station.
It also says that security forces harmed Palestinians at checkpoints and during military operations in the West Bank. The report adds that among the victims were journalists and human rights defenders.
The report says many of the alleged cases involved multiple forms of sexual violence occurring simultaneously, and in some instances were documented through filming or photography, including at least one alleged rape. It describes abuses against female detainees as including threats of rape, forced nudity, unwanted physical contact and humiliating strip searches carried out without apparent security justification.
Men and boys, the report says, were allegedly subjected to rape or attempted rape and violence directed at the genitals, “resulting in five male victims suffering severe rectal bleeding or swelling for multiple days or weeks and, in some cases, without receiving medical treatment.”
The report also said that the long-term effects of sexual violence on detainees released back to Gaza were exacerbated by dire living conditions. It added that the humanitarian crisis and repeated mass displacements in the enclave have left women and girls facing increased risks of sexual violence.
The report further cites findings from the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, which it says has repeatedly documented what it describes as a “systematic lack of accountability” for violations against Palestinians, which it says contributes to “a climate of impunity.”
It refers to a case in which five Israeli reserve soldiers were indicted in February 2025 over a severe assault at the Sde Teiman military camp, but says the indictment did not include charges of sexual violence or rape despite what it described as evidence, including video material and medical reports. The report adds that all charges in the case were dropped in March 2026, warning that such outcomes risk “reinforcing a climate of impunity that may enable the commission of conflict-related sexual violence.”
The Israeli security forces were listed alongside Hamas, which was added to the UN blacklist last year over sexual violence committed by its members on October 7 and against hostages.
The list also includes a range of state and nonstate actors, among them Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Islamic State, Syrian government forces under Bashar al-Assad, Sudan’s army and allied militias, Somalia’s national army and al-Shabaab, as well as Russia’s armed forces.
The UN Secretary-General wrote that he had warned both Russia and Israel last year to halt acts of sexual violence and take steps to prevent institutional abuse and bring perpetrators to justice, according to the document. He said the two countries had not taken adequate preventive measures and had continued to block access for relevant UN monitoring bodies.
According to the report, the cases it verified likely reflect only part of a broader pattern. The United Nations said its findings should be viewed as indicative rather than comprehensive, citing what it described as Israel’s continued denial of access to detention facilities and to Gaza. It also said reporting on sexual violence remained difficult due to what it called explicit threats by Israeli armed and security forces aimed at coercing detainees not to report abuse.
The report also notes that the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, remained in contact with the Israeli government and civil society following Israel’s warning last year that it could be placed on the blacklist. However, Israel did not provide information indicating it had taken the steps the United Nations expected.
In January 2025, Haaretz reported that Patten had sought to deepen her investigation into sexual violence against Israelis during Hamas’ October 7 massacre, but did not carry out a second visit to Israel after authorities denied her request for access to facilities where Palestinians are held. Patten is also responsible for the most comprehensive UN report to date documenting sexual violence in Hamas’ October 7 assault.
Guterres urged the Israeli government to “immediately cease all acts of sexual violence” and to swiftly implement commitments to address and prevent such abuse. He also called for accountability for those responsible for sexual violence in the October 7 massacre, while stressing due process. The report said the United Nations had not received information from Israel on any indictments involving sexual violence against Palestinians detained over their alleged role in the October 7 assault.
The UN secretary-general reiterated his call on Israel “to immediately cease all acts of sexual violence” and to implement “time-bound commitments” to prevent such abuses, according to the report. He also urged Israel to grant “unfettered access” to UN bodies to investigate alleged violations, including conflict-related sexual violence, and called for accountability “with due process of law” for crimes committed during the October 7 attacks and afterward, while urging Hamas to take steps to address sexual violence.
Former hostage Emily Damari and her mother reunite at Sheba Medical Center after her release from Hamas captivity, in 2025. Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit
The report said the United Nations has not yet received information from Israel regarding indictments for sexual violence filed against Palestinians detained in Israel who are accused of participating in the October 7 massacre. The report also said Israel should ensure Palestinian prisoners are treated “in a dignified way” and investigate and prosecute all allegations of sexual violence against detainees.
Hamas’ sexual crimes were also detailed in the last two annual reports, published in 2024 and 2025. This time, the report addressed sexual violence against Israeli hostages who were held captive by the militant group in Gaza.
According to the report, following the release of more than 50 hostages in two deals in 2025, six hostages publicly testified about sexual violence. One female hostage released in January testified about numerous instances of sexual violence. In March 2025, two female hostages who were released in 2023 also testified about sexual violence. Three male hostages released in October 2025 testified about sexual violence as well.
The report emphasized that the United Nations was unable to verify these testimonies because Israel did not allow the appropriate bodies of the organization to conduct investigations.
Speaking at a Friday press conference about the report’s findings, Patten said Israel was notified in advance of its inclusion and responded to the report in March, rejecting “any patterns of sexual violence” against Palestinians and sending a document with its legal practices and directives to the IDF and law enforcement.
The document, however, “did not contain information on any fully fledged investigation, prosecution, or conviction for sexual violence cases,” she said. Patten added that the Sde Teiman case, in which leaked footage showed abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the facility, was emblematic. “Not only was sexual violence not in the indictment, but the charges were even dropped altogether by the military advocate general,” she said.
The reservists were charged last year with aggravated abuse and causing severe bodily injury to the detainee. According to the indictment, they beat him, dragged him along the floor, stepped on him and shocked him with a taser. The detainee suffered fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a perforated colon. Last year, the man was released from IDF custody back into Gaza without the authorities in Israel having taken testimony from him on his alleged abuse by Israeli guards. “This is the case, you may recall, which had triggered demonstrations by some Knesset members to protest against the arrest of the soldiers, including attacks on the Sde Teiman camp and those investigating the case,” Patten said on Friday.
In July 2024, hundreds protested outside the facility against the soldiers’ arrest in a demonstration that culminated in a group of protesters led by far-right MK Zvi Succot breaking into the base.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon and Israel’s Foreign Ministry criticized the UN secretary-general over the decision. The Foreign Ministry on X called the decision an “attempt to create a false symmetry between Israel and the real sexual atrocities committed by Hamas.”
Danon and the Foreign Ministry declared they would “sever ties” with the secretary-general until the appointment of a new UN secretary-general.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that he had requested the country’s attorney general to open a criminal investigation into Israeli forces’ treatment of French activists who participated in the latest flotilla to the Gaza Strip.
Barrot said in an interview with France Inter radio that the decision was made following a report by the consul general in Turkey, according to which the activists were subjected to sexual violence, humiliation, and beatings.
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