As war in Gaza rages, Israel and UN trade allegations of ‘terrorism’ and torture

Israel recalled its ambassador to the UN on Monday as tensions erupted over the handling of allegations of sexual assault by Hamas militants during the October 7 attacks. At the heart of the row was the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which said its own staff had been tortured by Israel, even as Israel said the agency had employed more than 450 “terrorists”. “According to intelligence, over 450 terrorists belonging to terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, mainly Hamas, are also employed by UNRWA,” an Israeli military statement said. The military also released what it said were recordings of “a terrorist working as an Arabic teacher at an UNRWA school... describing his entry into Israeli territory and stating that he is holding female Israeli hostages” during the October 7 attack by Hamas. The Hamas attack resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 30,500 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest toll from Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry. Gaza civilian deaths test Israel’s AI precision claims Around 250 hostages were taken by militants, 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 presumed dead, according to Israel. A UN report issued Monday said that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” rapes were committed during Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel, and that hostages subsequently taken to Gaza have also been raped. Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, who was recalled for consultations over the escalating row, said that “it took the United Nations five months to finally recognise the sexual crimes committed on October 7 during Hamas’ massacre”. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman denied that he had done “anything to keep the report ‘quiet’” after visceral criticism from Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz. Israel has previously criticised the UN for not responding quickly enough to victims’ accounts of rape and sexual assault allegedly committed during Hamas’s incursion into Israel. Hamas has repeatedly rejected accusations of sexual violence. UNRWA employs around 30,000 people in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria - with about 13,000 staff in the Gaza Strip. It is at the centre of efforts to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza, where aid groups warn of looming famine after nearly five months of Israeli bombardment. Also on Monday, UNRWA said Israeli authorities had “detained several of its staff from the Gaza Strip” who later described abuses in custody. US VP Harris urges immediate ceasefire, pushes Israel on aid to Gaza “Our staff have reported atrocious events while they were detained and during interrogations by the Israeli authorities. These reports included torture, severe ill-treatment, abuse and sexual exploitation,” UNRWA said in a statement. “Some of our staff have conveyed to UNRWA teams that they were forced to sign confessions under torture and ill-treatment” while being asked about Hamas’s October 7 attack. Forced confessions were being used to spread misinformation and put UNRWA staffers at risk, the agency said adding a written protest was sent to Israel - but no response was received. “(The) IDF denies general and unsubstantiated claims regarding sexual abuse of detainees in the IDF’s detention facilities,” the military said. “These claims are another cynical attempt to create a false equivalency with the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by Hamas.” Agence France-Presse could not independently corroborate the claims made by Israel’s military against UNRWA or the agency’s claims about abuses committed by Israeli authorities against its staff. Several countries - including the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan - suspended funding to UNRWA following the earlier Israeli allegations about agency staff members’ involvement in the Hamas attack. The United Nations fired the staff accused by Israel and has begun an internal probe. The European Commission, recognising steps taken by the UN, said Friday it would release €50 million (US$54 million) in UNRWA funding. Phillipe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, has said Israel provided no evidence against his former employees and warned that dismantling UNRWA would be “short-sighted”. “By doing so, we will sacrifice an entire generation of children, sowing the seeds of hatred, resentment and future conflict,” he told the UN General Assembly. Additional reporting by Reuters

As war in Gaza rages, Israel and UN trade allegations of ‘terrorism’ and torture

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}UN finds evidence of sexual violence by Hamas on and after the October 7 attacks Israel escalates criticism of UN agency in Gaza, says 450 of its workers are militants

UN finds evidence of sexual violence by Hamas on and after the October 7 attacks

Israel escalates criticism of UN agency in Gaza, says 450 of its workers are militants