Hamas dismisses Guterres’s ‘fabricated’ sexual violence allegations rooted in Israeli propaganda

Hamas has rejected the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s accusations of sexual violence related to the events of October 7, 2023, based on “fabricated” and “politically motivated” Israeli narratives without conducting any impartial investigation.

In a statement on Friday, the Gaza-based resistance movement expressed its “firm rejection” and “strong condemnation: of the report issued by Guterres on August 14, which included the group in the “blacklist” of perpetrators of sexual crimes.

“This step is legally invalid, contradicts the facts, and reflects the double standards that continue to undermine the credibility of the international system,” read the statement.

According to the resistance group, the inclusion is not based on “independent and neutral field investigations”, nor does it adhere to internationally recognized standards of proof.

“Instead, it totally relies on fabricated and politically motivated Israeli narratives, without conducting any impartial investigation or contacting the alleged victims, constituting a blatant violation of the professional principles outlined in relevant UN resolutions,” it pointed out.

The statement further criticized the UN report for failing to include the Israeli regime in the list despite the availability of hundreds of documented pieces of evidence in reports by UN investigative commissions, independent international rights organizations, and special rapporteurs.

“[They]  all prove that the occupation forces have committed systematic acts of sexual violence against Palestinian civilians, including rape and other forms of sexual assaults, as part of the genocidal war they are waging on the Gaza Strip,” the statement noted.

“This blatant double standard represents a serious deviation from the principle of equality before international law and a crude politicization of UN mechanisms, threatening their integrity and turning them into tools to whitewash the crimes of the occupation rather than holding it accountable.”

Hamas urged the UN Secretary-General and Security Council to “immediately withdraw this unjust decision”  and launch an independent and impartial international investigation, supervised by a committee of international experts, into all allegations of sexual violence related to the war with the Zionist enemy.

The resistance group warned that the “politicization of international justice” and the double standards in applying international humanitarian law undermine trust in the UN system.

“[It will also] encourage real perpetrators to continue their crimes with impunity, exacerbating the suffering of people under occupation,” it concluded.

UN chief Guterres puts Israel ‘on notice’ over sexual violence by military forces

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has placed Israel “on notice” for possible inclusion in the UN’s “blacklist” of entities and groups suspected of committing sexual violence in armed conflict.

Allegations of sexual violence against Israeli settlers following the Hamas-led operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime on October 7 were widely debunked and discredited by independent media for lack of evidence and glaring discrepancies.

However, numerous reports point to the Israeli regime’s use of torture and sexual violence against Palestinians.

In a report published on March 13, an Independent International Commission of Human Rights Council (HRC) revealed that the Israeli regime has been systematically using sexual, reproductive, and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023, when it began its genocidal assault on Gaza.

The Commission found a clear pattern of Israeli soldiers and settlers committing sexual and gender-based crimes to intimidate and displace Palestinians.

The report concluded that sexual and gender-based violence targeted Palestinians to humiliate, intimidate, and ultimately weaken and expel their community.

Palestinian detainees released from Israeli prisons say abuse and torture are widespread and systematic.

Last year in July, a video emerged of a gang rape of a Palestinian prisoner by guards at the Sde Teiman detention facility in the Negev desert, south of Israeli-occupied territories.

A report titled Welcome to Hell, published in August 2024 by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, included interviews with 55 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention centers since October 7.

In firsthand accounts, the prisoners, the majority of whom were later released without charge at locations across the occupied Palestinian territory, recounted being assaulted, insulted, and sexually abused by guards.

“The conditions at Sde Teiman aren’t unique. They’re just the tip of the iceberg,” the organisation’s spokesperson, Shai Parnes, was quoted as saying at the time.

In a separate report published at the time by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), the systematic abuse of prisoners within Israeli detention centers, which is fundamentally at odds with international law, has also been detailed.

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