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   From: void@invalid.noy   
      
   The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) provides   
   a detailed analysis of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and the   
   Israeli assault on Gaza. The report finds both sides committed war   
   crimes but concludes there is no evidence to support the claim that   
   Hamas engaged in mass rape during its rampage in southern Israel. The   
   COI found evidence of Israel intentionally killing civilians and   
   Israeli forces engaged in acts of sexual torture.   
      
   The report’s analysis of the events on October 7 concluded Hamas   
   intentionally targeted two dozen civilian targets, leading to hundreds   
   of deaths. The COI found evidence that members of Hamas committed   
   sexual assaults on Israelis, with some female bodies found undressed.   
      
   However, the report debunks the widespread claim that top Israeli and   
   US officials have often repeated that Hamas engaged in mass rape   
   during its attack. “The Commission has reviewed testimonies obtained   
   by journalists and the Israeli police concerning rape but has not been   
   able to independently verify such allegations,” the report says.   
   “Additionally, the Commission found some specific allegations to be   
   false, inaccurate or contradictory with other evidence or statements   
   and discounted these from its assessment.”   
      
   While the assertion that Hamas engaged in mass rape on October 7 has   
   been widely discussed in the US media, the Palestinian accusations   
   that Israeli forces have systematically engaged in horrific sexual   
   violence have gone largely unreported.   
      
   The COI found evidence to back the Palestinian claims that Israel is   
   engaging in systemic sexual torture and humiliation. “Based on   
   testimonies and verified video footage and photographs, the Commission   
   finds that sexual violence has been perpetrated throughout the   
   [Israeli enforced] evacuation processes.” The report continues,   
   “Palestinians were made to watch members of their family and community   
   strip in public and walk completely or partially undressed while   
   subjected to sexual harassment.”   
      
   The Israeli forces inflicted sexual torture on males, according to the   
   COI. “Males were repeatedly filmed and photographed by soldiers while   
   subjected to forced public stripping and nudity, sexual torture and   
   inhumane or cruel treatment,” the report found.   
      
   The COI concluded that the Israeli forces were authorized or allowed   
   to engage in the sexual abuse. “The Commission concludes that forced   
   public stripping and nudity and other types of abuse by Israeli   
   military personnel were either ordered or condoned.” It adds, “These   
   acts were intended to humiliate and degrade the victims and the   
   Palestinian community at large by perpetuating gender stereotypes that   
   create a sense of shame, subordination, emasculation and inferiority.”   
      
   Additionally, the Commission found evidence that Israeli forces have   
   been given the authority to target civilians. “Given information   
   suggesting relatively low numbers of Hamas militants in proportion to   
   the wider civilian population, and given Israel’s repeated assertion   
   that militants are ‘embedded’ within the civilian population,” the   
   authors of the report conclude, “statements indicate that the Israeli   
   Government has given [Israeli Security Forces] blanket authorization   
   to target civilian locations widely and indiscriminately in the Gaza   
   Strip.”   
      
   The COI recommends an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, something the White   
   House has resisted over the past eight months. Last month, President   
   Joe Biden unveiled a ceasefire proposal he claimed originated in Tel   
   Aviv. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to   
   dismiss the idea of a permanent end to the conflict.   
      
   The US has significant leverage over Israel and could condition future   
   aid to Tel Aviv on Netanyahu ending the onslaught. Nevertheless, Biden   
   has refused to place any meaningful restriction on arms shipment to   
   Tel Aviv.   
      
   https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/un-report-details-israeli-   
   ar-crimes-during-first-months-of-war-on-gaza/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)