Accounts of Sexual Violence by Hamas Are Aired Amid Criticism of U.N.

The body of one woman had “nails and different objects in her female organs.” In another house, a person’s genitals were so mutilated that “we couldn’t identify if it was a man or a woman.”

Simcha Greinman, a volunteer who helped collect the remains of victims of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 assault on Israel, took long pauses as he spoke those words on Monday at an event at the United Nations.

“Horrific things I saw with my own eyes,” he said, “and I felt with my own hands.”

Shari Mendes, a member of an Israeli military reserve unit tasked with preparing the bodies of fallen female soldiers for burial, said her team saw several who were killed on Oct. 7 “who were shot in the crotch, intimate parts, vagina, or were shot in the breast.” Others had mutilated faces, or multiple gunshots to their heads.

Since the Oct. 7 attack, during which more than 1,200 people were killed and some 240 people were kidnapped, Israeli officials have accused the terrorists of also committing widespread sexual violence — rape and sexual mutilation — particularly against women.

Yet those atrocities have received little scrutiny from human rights groups, or the news media, amid the larger war between Israel and Hamas — and until a few days ago, they had not been specifically mentioned or condemned by UN Women, the United Nations’ women’s rights agency, which has regularly spoken out about the plight of Palestinian women and girls.

Israelis and many Jews around the world say they feel abandoned by an international social justice community — women’s groups, human rights groups, liberal celebrities, among others — whose causes they have supported in crises around the world.

On Monday, some 800 people, including women’s activists and diplomats representing about 40 countries, crowded into a chamber at U.N. headquarters in New York for a presentation laying out the evidence of large-scale sexual violence, with testimony from witnesses like Ms. Mendes and Mr. Greinman.

“Silence is complicity,” Sheryl Sandberg, the former Meta executive, told those assembled. She, along with Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, was among the event’s primary organizers. “On Oct. 7, Hamas brutally murdered 1,200 souls and in some cases, they first raped their victims,” Ms. Sandberg added. “We know this from eyewitnesses, we know this from combat paramedics, we would know this from some victims if more had been allowed to live.”

Hamas has denied that its fighters committed sex crimes, which it said would violate Islamic principles.

But ample evidence has been collected, like the bodies of women found partially or fully naked, women with their pelvic bones broken, the accounts of medical examiners and first responders, videos taken by Hamas fighters themselves, and even a few firsthand witnesses like a woman, in a video made public last month by police officials, who said she had watched Hamas terrorists take turns raping a young woman they had captured at a music festival, mutilate her and then shoot her in the head.

Meni Binyamin, the head of the International Crime Investigations Unit of the Israeli police, said in an interview that it had documented “violent rape incidents, the most extreme sexual abuses we have seen,” on Oct. 7, against women and some men. “I am talking about dozens.”

Israeli officials have not estimated how many women were sexually assaulted or mutilated. They say that overwhelmed forensic scientists had to focus at first on identifying bodies, rather than collecting perishable evidence of rape. Few victims or eyewitnesses survived, and fewer have spoken publicly.

At the United Nations on Monday, Yael Richert, a superintendent with the Israeli police, presented video of witness interviews, including with a paramedic who said, “Shooting was targeted at sexual organs, we saw that a lot.”

Outside, hundreds of protesters accused the United Nations of a double standard when it comes to sexual

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

SDG 5: Gender Equality

The issue of sexual violence and mutilation against women in the Oct. 7 assault on Israel is directly connected to SDG 5, which aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

The article also highlights the need for peace, justice, and strong institutions to address the atrocities committed during the assault. This aligns with SDG 16, which focuses on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in public and private spheres

The article highlights the sexual violence and mutilation committed against women during the assault, which directly relates to Target 5.2 of SDG 5.

Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere

The article discusses the need for justice and accountability for the acts of violence committed during the assault, aligning with Target 16.1 of SDG 16.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Indicator 5.2.1: Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls subjected to physical, sexual, or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months

This indicator can be used to measure progress towards Target 5.2 of SDG 5 by collecting data on the prevalence of violence against women and girls in intimate relationships.

Indicator 16.1.3: Proportion of population subjected to physical, psychological, or sexual violence in the previous 12 months

This indicator can be used to measure progress towards Target 16.1 of SDG 16 by assessing the extent of violence experienced by the population within a given timeframe.

4. Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: nytimes.com