A Hanukkiyah, a candlestick used during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, stands on the remains of a burnt windowsill, following a deadly infiltration by Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel, Oct. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Hamas likely committed mass acts of gang-rape and torture against women during its massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7 and may today still be abusing women kept as hostages in Gaza, the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General said on Monday in a new long-anticipated report.

The findings follow a two-week investigation by undertaken UN experts on sexual violence in conflict from January 19-February 14. Pramila Patten, the team’s special envoy, led the inquiry.

“Credible circumstantial information, which may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment was also gathered,” the report said, according to quotations shared by various news outlets, including Reuters and Times of Israel. It also said that the team “found clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.”

On Oct. 7, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which controls Gaza, invaded neighboring Israel and massacred 1,200 people, mostly civilians, injured thousands more, and kidnapped over 200 hostages. In the day following the tragedy, the brutality of Hamas’ violence shocked the world as numerous eyewitnesses and victims shared accounts of rape, torture, beheading, and the mutilation of bodies. Since that day, far-left agitators, who in other contexts argued that no accusation of sexual assault should even be scrutinized, have discredited the testimonies of rape victims, attempting to bury them under counter accusations of anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia.

“You heard accounts of rape and heinous sexual abuse,” Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan said in a speech on Monday. “These testimonies will receive official recognition from the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict Pramila Patten. Will you still continue with your silence and indifference? What if these were your daughters, your granddaughters? Would you continue to ignore them or would you demand immediate action?”

Last month, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel issued a report detailing harrowing accounts of Hamas’ sexual violence. In 35 pages, it recounted numerous sexual assaults reported by Israel women, several of which were perpetrated in the presence of their loved ones. Some women were killed after the act, some during it. Hamas terrorists also desecrated the bodies of victims they murdered, mutilating their genitalia, and they raped men.

“The latest UN report starkly details Hamas’ atrocities on October 7th, including mass murders, rapes, and systematic sexual offenses,” Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz said on Monday in a statement posted to X. “It’s time for action [Secretary General of the UN] Antonio Guterres. Hamas must be globally recognized as a terrorist entity, its supporting nations labeled as terrorism sponsors. [The United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s] removal from Gaza is imperative, and the immediate release of hostages must be prioritized.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.