Overview

• Guterres formally wrote to Israel’s UN ambassador, citing patterns of sexual violence that could place Israeli armed and security forces on next year’s list alongside Hamas, Myanmar’s military and Sudan’s army.
• The 2025 UN report confirmed Hamas as a party credibly suspected of rape and other sexual violence during its October 7, 2023 attacks and against captives in Gaza.
• Russia was similarly put on notice after UN documentation detailed genital electrocution, beatings, burns and forced stripping of Ukrainian prisoners of war in at least 72 detention facilities.
• Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon dismissed the allegations as baseless and biased, urged focus on Hamas’s abuses and criticized the UN’s restricted on-site inspections.
• The UN highlighted that denial of monitor access and sparse details on accountability measures have hindered definitive findings and called for time-bound investigations with full monitoring.