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Former IDF spokesman argues ‘any means are justified’ to get hostages home
Former IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus discusses Israel’s boycott of cease-fire negotiations.
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JERUSALEM – In a report published by the U.N. Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, the international body finally recognized that Hamas terrorists carried out extreme acts of sexual violence on Oct. 7, including rape and gang-rape in at least three locations. It also noted that in some of the incidents, the victims were subjected to rape and were then killed; in others, Hamas terrorists raped the women after they were killed.
Despite the recognition, Israel expressed disappointment that the report stopped short of condemning Hamas’ heinous acts outright or even convening a special hearing in the Security Council to discuss taking action against the group – and its supporters.
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, accused the U.N. of downplaying the atrocities and ordered the country’s Special Representative, Ambassador Gilad Erdan, to return to Israel for “consultations.”
United Nations headquarters and flag juxtaposed with a picture of an Israeli woman kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. (Getty Images/Telegram)
HAMAS TERRORISTS ‘SYSTEMATICALLY AND INTENTIONALLY’ COMMITTED SEXUAL VIOLENCE DURING OCT. 7 ATTACK: REPORT
“I have ordered our ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan to return to Israel for immediate consultations regarding the attempt to silence the serious U.N. report on the mass rapes committed by Hamas and its aides on October 7th,” the Minister wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“Despite the authority granted to him, the U.N. Secretary General did not order the convening of the Security Council in view of the findings or declare Hamas a terrorist organization and impose sanctions on its supporters,” wrote Katz.
“It took the U.N. five months to finally acknowledge the shocking sex crimes committed during the Hamas terror attack on Oct.7,” Ambassador Gilad Erdan said in a statement. “Today, with the release of the report on the sexual abuse that Israeli female hostages are enduring, the shame of the U.N. is on clear display. The U.N. has not held even one discussion on the topic. Not even one meeting.”
Hamas terrorists killed at least 1,400 civilians, including women, children and the elderly, when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
Erdan called on the Secretary-General, and the Security Council, to immediately condemn Hamas for its crimes, and apply unrelenting pressure on the terrorists to ensure that their sexual abuse ends and that the hostages are released.
Calls for a ceasefire, he said would prolong the suffering of Israeli hostages at the hands of Hamas and allow Hamas’ “to continue their sexual violence.”
The report was carried out by Pramila Patten, the special representative of the secretary-general, who visited Israel with a team of experts last month. In a statement to the press, she noted that the mission “found clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment has been committed against hostages.”
UNITED NATIONS SLAMMED FOR SILENCE OVER HAMAS RAPES, MUTILATION AND MURDER OF ISRAELI WOMEN, CRITICS SAY
RAMLE, ISRAEL – OCTOBER 24: A soldier of the Military Rabbinate unit opens a container filled with bodies killed during the Hamas terrorist attack on the Israeli southern border as the process of identifying deceased individuals continues in the Shura army base on October 24, 2023 in Ramle, Israel. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
She also highlighted that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing against those still held in captivity.”
“The mission team also found a pattern of victims, mostly women, found fully or partially naked, bound, and shot across multiple locations,” Patten said in the press statement, adding that “although circumstantial, such a pattern may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including sexualized torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.”
Thousands of Palestinians led by terrorists from Hamas’ elite Nukbah force broke through the border fence from the Gaza Strip infiltrating into Israel on Oct. 7, murdering more than 1,200 people on multiple army bases, towns, villages, and at a mass music festival taking place in the area.
Aside from the murders and rapes, terrorists also took hostage some 240 individuals, including babies, children, women and the elderly. More than 134 people are still being held captive some five months later, with Israelis expressing particular concern for the welfare of the remaining female hostages, who they believe are being attacked sexually while in captivity.
In his briefing on Monday, Israeli army spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, shared an intercepted voice recording of an elementary school teacher employed in a Gaza school run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency that services Palestinian refugees, bragging about kidnapping an Israeli woman during the Oct. 7 attack.
An IDF infographic with descriptions of what it claims are the UNRWA workers that took part in the Oct 7 massacre. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)
Hagari pointed out that the man uses an Arabic term also used by ISIS terrorists when that group carried out atrocities, including rape, against the Yazidi community in Iraq between 2014-2016.
In the chilling recording Hagari identified the school teacher as Yussef Zidan Suleiman Al-Hawajara and, with English subtitles translating the Arabic, Al-Hawajara can be heard describing in detail how he entered Israel and is now holding an Israeli woman captive.
“On the call you can hear him bragging about ‘sabaya’ a female captive, he is talking about one of our girls, about one of our women,” Hagari said in his briefing, pointing out that ‘sabaya’ is an Arabic term meaning female captive and that it was the same terminology used by ISIS.
‘I WILL BE HAUNTED FOREVER’: ISRAEL’S HORRIFIC VIDEO OF HAMAS ATROCITIES LEAVES VIEWERS SHOCKED AND SICKENED
An Israeli soldier patrols near Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel on October 12, 2023, close to the place where 270 revellers were killed by terrorists during the Supernova music festival on October 7. (ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Hagari said the call was intercepted by the military on Oct. 7 and had just been declassified in order to highlight the involvement of employees from the controversial aid agency, which Israelis believe serves to perpetuate the decades-old intractable conflict and turns a blind eye to Hamas’ terror activities.
Naming several additional UNRWA employees, Hagari said the army had evidence that as many as 450 UNRWA workers were active members of terror groups in the Gaza Strip.
In January, UNRWA, which receives billions of dollars in funding from multiple countries, including the U.S. and the E.U, acknowledged previous Israeli revelations that 12 of its workers were directly involved in the murderous rampage. The organization’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said at the time that he had decided to “immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay.”
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GAZA CITY, GAZA – JANUARY 30: A man walks in front of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building as UNRWA personnel strike demanding a salary increase because of the high cost of living, in Gaza City, Gaza on January 30, 2023. (Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) (Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Juliette Touma, the agency’s Director of Communications, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that “UNRWA encourages any entity that has any information on the very serious allegations against UNRWA staff to share it with the ongoing U.N. investigation.”
“This investigation is led by the Office of Internal Oversight Services in the United Nations Headquarters in New York and is being done independently of UNRWA,” she said.
Ruth Marks Eglash is a veteran journalist based in Jerusalem, Israel. She reports and covers the Middle East and Europe. Originally from the U.K, she has also freelanced for numerous news outlets. Ruth can be followed on Twitter @reglash