By Terje Berg-Hansen On March 13th 2025 The United Nations Human Rights Council published a thorough report exposing the Israeli military’s systematic sexual violence and rape against male and female Palestinian civilians since October 7th 2023. The report discloses that Israeli soldiers systematically are being ordered to commit these acts by their commanding officers, and that hardly any actions have been undertaken by the Israeli authorities to bring the perpetrators of this violence to justice.
Western media have been conspicuously silent on this topic and have hardly covered this report at all.
Here, as examples of its findings, are point 120 and 124 from the report:
120. In at least two cases documented by the Commission, victims needed medical treatment and/or surgery due to the injuries caused by rape. In one case, a detained Palestinian man was raped after he was transferred from Ofer prison to Sde Teiman detention facility. According to an indictment submitted to an Israeli military court, the man was physically abused by five soldiers, reservists in Unit 100, during a search at Sde Teiman prison. The men, including the commander of the team, kicked the victim and hit him with a baton and tasered him in the head. A baton was also inserted in his mouth and a dog was used to intimidate the victim during the assault. The assault resulted in the fracture of several of the victim’s ribs and a punctured lung. The victim was also stabbed in the rectum with a sharp object. The victim’s rectum was raptured due to the assault, and he required surgery to the rectum. Following the assault, the victim was required to use a stoma bag due to the gravity of the injuries. A video filming the assailants were taken by a soldier.
124. Female detainees were also subjected to sexual assault and harassment in military and Israel Prison Service facilities, as well as threats to their lives. The sexual assault and harassment included kicking the women’s genitals, touching their breasts, attempting to kiss them, and threats of rape. One female detainee interviewed by the Commission said that a soldier threatened to gang rape her, kill her and burn her children. The soldier asked her: “How do you want us to rape you? one by one or all together?” The victim was also denied access to her lawyer once she had informed him of the rape threat. In one case reported to the Commission, a woman was threatened with sexual assault in front of her husband while detained in Hasharon prison. One soldier reportedly unzipped his pants and threatened to make the woman sit on his lap while another soldier commented on her breasts. The woman, who had given birth two months prior to her detention, was reportedly spat in her face by the soldiers and beaten repeatedly until she fainted.
From the hearings:
Below is a link to the whole report