"Female slaves" abducted

Israel accuses UNRWA of helping with abductions

Protest against UNRWA in Jerusalem

(Bild: AP)

The Israeli government has once again presented footage showing the involvement of employees of the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the devastating Hamas attack on Israel. During his speech in New York on Monday, Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan showed a video allegedly showing an UNRWA employee in Israel on October 7. The military also released audio recordings in which the voices of UNRWA personnel can be heard.

For example, the teacher of an UNRWA school is said to have said that he had captured a "slave girl", army spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference on Monday evening. According to Israeli sources, the man used the Arabic word "Sabaija" in the conversation. The term refers to women and children who are the personal property of a Muslim, said Hagari. However, it also means "servant" and "slave".

Israeli soldiers in front of the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City

(Bild: AFP)

Use of language similar to that of IS
In the language used by the terrorist militia IS, which at times ruled large parts of Syria and Iraq, women - especially from the Yazidi minority - were sexually abused with reference to this term. In addition, another terrorist can allegedly be heard in an audio recording calling a woman in his power a "noble mare". However, the authenticity of the recordings has not yet been independently verified. 

UN report on rapes by Hamas
Meanwhile, a United Nations report considers sexualized violence during the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October to be probable. There are "reasonable grounds to believe" that rape and gang rape occurred in at least three locations, according to the paper, which was prepared by the responsible UN representative Pramila Patten following a visit to Israel.

According to Patten, she received "clear and convincing information" that hostages were raped under Hamas control. This information also led to the assumption "that such violence continues against those who are still being held". The UN representative spent several days in Israel in February. There she spoke with survivors, witnesses and security forces. The UN envoy also met with Israelis released from Hamas hostage-taking. The United Nations had previously been accused of reacting too slowly to the accusations of rape and sexual violence leveled by Israel against Hamas during the brutal large-scale attack on October 7.

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz

(Bild: Associated Press)

Israel recalled UN ambassador for consultations
Israel's UN ambassador has been recalled for consultations because of the "attempt to silence information about the mass rapes committed by Hamas and its allies". Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused UN Secretary-General António Guterres of not convening the Security Council to discuss the report and declaring Hamas a terrorist organization. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in return that Guterres had "fully supported" Patten's work during her visit to Israel. "The Secretary-General did nothing whatsoever to keep the report 'secret'." In fact, the report was presented publicly.