RAMALLAH ( WNAM MONITORING): The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates voiced its support for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres amid Israeli efforts to exert pressure on a UN report that places Israel and its occupation authorities on the “list of shame” for parties accused of committing conflict-related sexual violence.
The ministry said that Israel, through its official and unofficial institutions, has committed acts of torture, sexual violence and rape against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly against Palestinian detainees held in detention centers, detention camps and prisons, as well as against international solidarity activists.
It stressed that Israel has systematically employed sexual violence as a weapon of war, constituting both a war crime and a crime against humanity, and has likewise used starvation as a weapon of war throughout its genocidal campaign.
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Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates stressed that Israel has systematically employed sexual violence as a weapon of war, constituting both a war crime and a crime against humanity.
The ministry added that these practices are part of a systematic and widespread policy pursued by Israel, the illegal occupying power, over many years to intimidate the Palestinian people and create coercive conditions aimed at their forcible displacement.
It said that the inclusion of the Israeli authorities and their institutions on the UN list of shame for perpetrators of sexual violence in armed conflicts is an objective, evidence-based and well-founded outcome of sustained diplomatic efforts, particularly in light of Israel’s illegal occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem.
The ministry pointed to extensive Palestinian and UN documentation, numerous international reports, and testimonies submitted by the state of Palestine and Palestinian victims who were subjected to various forms of sexual violence, torture and abuse during detention, interrogation and imprisonment.
It welcomed the UN and international efforts that contributed to these findings.
The ministry also said that the Israeli army had previously been included on the UN list of shame for parties responsible for grave violations against children in armed conflict.
It highlighted the need for the international community to act on the growing body of findings and reports issued by credible and independent UN and international bodies, activate protection mechanisms for the Palestinian people and ensure accountability.
The ministry said that the longstanding impunity enjoyed by Israel must come to an end, warning that the absence of effective international action only encourages Israel and its various instruments to persist in committing crimes against the Palestinian people.
Being added to the list does not automatically carry specific punitive measures such as sanctions, although public naming and shaming can cause significant reputational damage for the states involved, and those repeatedly listed are barred from UN peacekeeping operations.
The report’s compiler, Pramila Patten, Guterres’ special representative on sexual violence in conflict, said cases of conflict-related sexual violence verified by the UN globally rose by more than 100 percent in 2025 over 2024, and called it a very disturbing trend that was still only the “very tip of the iceberg.”
This year’s report said that in 2025, “the UN verified multiple incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, including as a form of torture, inflicted against 14 men, seven women, nine boys and one girl from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
It said 13 of the cases occurred in 2025, and 18 in 2023 and 2024.
“Rape and gang rape, in some cases repeated, were perpetrated against nine victims, the majority from Gaza,” it said, adding that perpetrators included Israeli armed and security forces, and occurred primarily during detention and interrogation and across several sites, including military camps and also at checkpoints and during Israeli military operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
It said survivors included journalists and human rights defenders, and that in some cases, the violations were filmed or photographed, including one case of rape.
The report added that sexual violence against female detainees included mostly threats of rape, forced nudity, unwanted touching, and humiliating or degrading strip searches without justification, while men and boys were targeted with rape, attempted rape and violence to the genitals.
This resulted in five male victims suffering severe rectal bleeding or swelling for multiple days or weeks, it said.
