Israel says it has been blacklisted by the United Nations for using sexual violence as a weapon of war.
The UN Secretary-General’s annual report on conflict-related sexual violence is customarily presented to states before publication, and has prompted a furious response from Israel, which says it has been added to the blacklist.
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said the allegations were “outrageous”.
“We are done with this Secretary-General,” he said on X.
“The decision to blacklist Israel and accuse us of using sexual violence as a weapon of war is outrageous.
“The secretary-general and his team continue to spread lies against Israel. To put us and Hamas terrorists on the same list, that’s unacceptable.”
The Israeli mission to the UN said in a statement that it would have no contact with Antonio Guterres’ office as long as he served as head of the organisation.
Stephane Dujarric, Guterres’ spokesman, said: “For our part, the secretary-general’s door remains open.”
The findings are still to be presented to the UN security council.
Last August, a UN report warned Israel could be added to the list of parties suspected of or responsible for sexual violence in situations of armed conflict.
It cited “credible information” regarding sexual violence allegedly committed by Israeli security forces against Palestinian detainees in prisons and other detention centres, and said that UN inspectors had been denied access to the facilities. Israel denies the claims.
The report said: “The Commission of Inquiry also received credible information of detainees subjected to burns to the anus. Outside of detention settings, two incidents of genital beating and kicking at a checkpoint and during a house raid in the West Bank were verified.
“In Gaza, Palestinian men, women and children were subjected to prolonged forced nudity, including being forced to walk naked in public.”
Hamas was added to the blacklist last year. The UN said there was “clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza were subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence during their time in captivity”.
Investigators “found reasonable grounds to believe that sexual violence occurred during the attacks of October 7 2023 in multiple locations, including rape and gang rape”, the report said.
“Several naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down were recovered – mostly women – with hands tied, who had been shot multiple times, often in the head,” it added.
Relations between the UN and Israel have hit rock bottom since the Hamas attacks in 2023.
The UN has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza after Israel’s retaliatory attacks and two and a half years of war.
In 2023, Israel demanded the resignation of Guterres over “shocking” comments in which he suggested that the October 7 attack was provoked by the “suffocating occupation” of the Palestinian territories.
Israel has also banned UNRWA, the UN’s refugee agency, from operating in Israel, alleging ties to Hamas.
The apparent blacklisting comes just after Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist, claimed that Israel had built a security apparatus in which sexual violence had become standard and a central element of the mistreatment of Palestinians.
Among the instances of alleged abuse, Kristof quoted an unnamed Gazan journalist, said to have been detained by Israeli forces in 2024, who reportedly said he had been raped by a prison guard’s dog.
Israel accused the New York Times of promoting a “blood libel” and said it would sue.
In response to the UN, Danon said: “This is a political decision! Disconnected from the facts and reality!
“Israel submitted evidence, documents and detailed responses to every claim. We invited UN representatives to come to the field and examine things up close, and they, of course, chose not to do so.
“When facts don’t fit the narrative, at the UN they simply change the narrative. We will continue to stand firm on the truth and to expose these blood libels on every possible platform. The truth will prevail.”
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