The UN Special Envoy on Sexual Violence at the United Nations, Premila Patten is visiting Israel this week to hear the testimonies and accounts of abductees who returned from Hamas captivity and the families of those who are still being held hostage in Gaza.
The United Nations special mission on sexual violence was invited to visit Israel by the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Division for International Organizations and Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan to provide her with an opportunity to personally explore the extent of the atrocities and bring the crimes of Hamas to the attention of the international authorities.
Patten visited the headquarters of the abductees yesterday and met hostages who returned from Hamas captivity and families of abductees who are still in Gaza. She listened at length to the testimonies and promised to use all the means at her disposal to bring about the release of the hostages still being held.
The envoy visited Camp Shura, where she met with Capt. (res.) Abigail Bar Asher, head of the military rabbinate’s corpse identification team, who described the work of the unit as reflected through the hard evidence discovered by the unit’s members at the identification center since October 7th.
Patten also toured the headquarters of Unit 105 in Lahav 433 of the Israel Police, where she received an overview from the heads of the unit on the activities of the national investigation against Hamas terrorists and the collection of evidence regarding the sexual assaults, kidnappings and massacres committed by the terrorists.
Earlier this week, Patten made a visit to the Gaza Envelope area where the Oct. 7 massacres and atrocities took place. She spoke with eyewitnesses at Kibbutz Be’eri, the “SuperNova” music festival site near Kibbutz Re’im, and at the “Nahal Oz” military base — all of which were attacked by the Hamas-led terrorists.
At Kibbutz Be’eri, Patten met with local resident Or Yelin and ZAKA member Yossi Landau to hear their testimonies about the atrocities that took place there.
The special mission she is leading will present its findings to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and urge designating the events of October 7 as part of the UN’s Annual Report on Sexual Crimes, the ministry said.
