UN sexual violence rep. says Israel failed to coordinate with office on Palestinian allegations
UN Special Representative for Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten says Jerusalem failed to coordinate with her office on implementing accountability measures to counter alleged sexual violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Patten’s comments at a press conference come after Israel said it cut ties with the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who placed Israel’s security forces on his blacklist of entities said to be credibly accused of sexual violence in war zones, citing alleged abuse of Palestinian inmates.
“For instance, with regard to the emblematic Sde Teiman case, not only was sexual violence not in the indictment, but the charges were even dropped altogether by the Military Advocate General,” Patten says.
“On the issue of denial of access to UN monitors, the Government of Israel in its submission maintains that it will not provide access on account of what it alleges to be ‘institutional bias in UN bodies and mechanisms.’ It also confirmed that since 7 October 2023, ICRC has been denied access to detention facilities due to ‘security concerns,’” Patten says.
Israel shared its full legal and oversight framework with the UN, including regulations, complaint mechanisms, and its practice of filing indictments where warranted, UN Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said yesterday, adding that he personally held multiple meetings with Patten and her team.
According to Danon, Israel had also arranged for senior officials from the Prison Service, the military and the Justice Ministry to meet with Patten’s delegation, but she canceled trips to Israel due to technical issues and the security situation in the region, though Israel never blocked the visits.
Patten confirms at the news briefing that there had been an invitation from Israel, but referred also to disagreements about the scope of the visit and related issues of access and cooperation, and said it ultimately had to be suspended due to the war in Gaza.
Alleged violators included the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Prison Service and police, according to the UN report, which claimed violations were recorded in prisons, West Bank checkpoints and the Gush Etzion police station, as well as during military operations.
As an example of the alleged “systematic lack of accountability,” Guterres cited the Sde Teiman case, when a Palestinian inmate reportedly suffered severe rectal injuries following the “insertion of an object in the anus” by guards in July 2024.
Guterres noted that, despite “video and medical reports and a detailed description of the assault,” five reservists indicted in the case were not charged with rape, and the charges were dropped entirely earlier this year, after top army prosecutors admitted leaking the footage and lying about it.
A January report by Israel’s Public Defender’s Office corroborated allegations of widespread abuse of Palestinian security detainees held in Israeli prisons, though it did not include instances of sexual abuse. The report found that detainees had suffered from severe and systematic violence from prison guards, deprivation of food and medical neglect, and sanitary conditions that caused and exacerbated outbreaks of disease in the prisons.
Nava Freiberg contributed to this report.