NEW YORK, (PIC)
In a step carrying unprecedented legal and political dimensions, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has included the Israeli army and security services in the list of parties accused of committing patterns of sexual violence associated with armed conflicts, in a development that reflects a remarkable shift in the approach of UN institutions toward violations committed against Palestinians since the outbreak of the war on Gaza.
The inclusion gains significance that goes beyond the human rights dimension, as it puts Israel for the first time in the position of official accusation alongside parties accused of committing grave violations in international conflicts, amid escalating international criticism of the behavior of the occupation forces inside prisons and detention centers and in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Unprecedented UN inclusion
The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, included the Israeli security services in the list of parties regarding whom credible information is available about suspicion of their committing patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence associated with armed conflicts, in his annual report on sexual violence in conflict areas for the year 2025.
This came in the annual report that was leaked to Israeli media and published, Friday, a day after the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, announced that Israel was included in the UN “black list”, in a step he described as a “political decision detached from facts and reality.”
The report covers the period between January and December 2025, and allocated a chapter entitled “Israel and the State of Palestine”, in which it addressed allegations related to Israeli prisoners released from Gaza, alongside cases documented by the United Nations regarding sexual violence against Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank during their detention by Israel.
31 documented cases
The report stated that patterns of sexual violence against Palestinians detained in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories continued during the year 2025, pointing out that the cases verified by the United Nations must be understood as indicators of a pattern extending across long periods, not as an exhaustive list, in light of the continuous refusal of the Israeli government to allow access to places of detention and to the Gaza Strip.
The report indicated that reporting these violations continued to face difficulties, including direct threats attributed to the security services of the Israeli authorities with the aim of forcing detainees not to report the violations they were subjected to.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Israeli authorities released, under the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, 1,968 Palestinians who were detained by them, while more than 9,000 Palestinians remain in prisons and detention centers, including more than 4,000 without charges or trial or within administrative detention.
The United Nations verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence, including as a form of torture, affecting 14 men, seven women, nine boys, and one girl from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Thirteen of these cases occurred during the year 2025, while 18 other cases date back to the years 2023 and 2024.
The violations documented by the report included rape, including with the use of objects, gang rape, attempted rape, physical violence directed at the genitalia, intentional shooting toward them, unwanted touching, forced nudity and searches of body cavities without an apparent security justification, forced stripping, and threats of rape. خسر ساقه للتعذيب الإجرامي في سجون الاحتلال
الأسير المحرر جبريل الصفدي يروي لـ ساحات تفاصيل اعتقاله من مدينة حمد في قطاع غزة، وما تعرّض له هو وغيره من الأسرى من تعذيب ممنهج وقرارات طبية قسرية داخل سجون الاحتلال الإسرائيلي
ضرب، خنق، تعذيب، اغتصاب بالكلاب، إهمال طبي، وبتر قسري.. pic.twitter.com/CtzdO03tiu — ساحات (@Sa7atPl) April 7, 2026 The army and prisons under accusation
The report held elements of the Israeli army and security services responsible for these violations, and mentioned among them the army, the Israeli Prison Service, including the special “Keter” unit, and the counter-terrorism unit of the Israeli police “Yamam”.
According to the report, these violations occurred mainly during detention and interrogation, and in several sites, including the Sde Teiman camp, the Etzion detention center, the Al-Majnounah camp, and an unspecified military base, in addition to facilities belonging to the Israeli Prison Service, including Megiddo, Ofer, Ramleh, Hasharon, Shatta, Nafha, and Damon prisons, as well as the Gush Etzion police station.
The report also documented violations that occurred at checkpoints and during Israeli military operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, noting that among the victims were journalists and human rights defenders.
It added that most cases included more than one form of sexual violence at the same time, and that some violations were filmed or documented on video, including one case of rape.
The report pointed out that sexual violence against Palestinian women prisoners mainly included threats of rape, forced nudity, unwanted touching, and humiliating searches, while men and boys were subjected to rapes, attempted rapes, and violence directed at the genitalia, which caused some of them severe injuries that lasted for days or weeks without receiving medical treatment.
Systemic impunity
The report pointed out that the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and other UN bodies, repeatedly documented what it described as a “systemic lack of accountability” for violations committed against Palestinians, which consolidates a climate of impunity.
The report touched upon the case of five reserve soldiers from Unit 100 in the Israeli army, against whom an indictment was filed in February 2025 against the background of a severe physical assault in the Sde Teiman camp, before the charges were dropped in March 2026 despite the presence of recordings, medical reports, and documented evidence.
The report indicated that Israel did not provide information proving its compliance with the measures required under Security Council Resolution 2467, and has not yet allowed access for the competent UN bodies to places of detention for monitoring and investigation.
In contrast, Guterres called on the Israeli government to immediately halt all acts of sexual violence, allow unrestricted access for UN bodies to investigate violations, ensure that Palestinian prisoners are treated with dignity, and hold those responsible for violations accountable.
He also called for accountability for crimes of sexual violence committed during the October 7 attacks and their aftermath, demanding the Hamas Movement to take measures to address these violations.
The report sparked angry Israeli reactions, as the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon attacked the decision of inclusion, considering it a “political decision detached from facts,” while the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the report as an “attempt to create a false symmetry between Israel and Hamas.”
Danon and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced what they described as “severing relations” with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, while the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir attacked the report, considering that the United Nations “has lost all moral compass.”