UN official says world must learn details about Hamas' acts of sexual violence on Oct. 7

UN official Pramila Patten, who focuses on sexual violence in conflict areas, arrived in the Jewish state for a full week to learn firsthand about the unprecedented atrocities committed by the Hamas terror organization during its surprise invasion and brutal attack on Israel on Oct. 7

“Patten was invited by the foreign ministry so that she could receive an unmediated impression of the extent of the atrocities and then bring Hamas’s crimes to the attention of the proper international authorities,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced in its official statement.

Earlier this month, the UN announced that Patten, the organizations special representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, would "gather information on sexual violence reportedly committed in the context of the attack on October 7 and its aftermath."

Patten is expected to meet victims and witnesses of Hamas atrocities, as well as representatives of Israeli security authorities.

“I’m here for a week, I’m prepared to meet you in a safe and enabling environment and to listen to your stories, the world needs to know what really happened on October 7,” the senior UN official added.

She urged Israeli victims to testify about Hamas operatives' widespread sexual violence and other crimes committed against Israeli civilians.

“Please come forward, please break your silence because your silence will be the license of those perpetrators,” Patten said.

Patten has met with President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal at the President's House in Jerusalem.

Senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have criticized the United Nations and other international organizations for their weak and slow response to the Hamas atrocities perpetrated against Israeli women and other civilians.

“I didn’t hear the human rights organizations, or the women’s organizations, or the women’s organizations of the UN… and I ask them: Where are you? Were you quiet because we were talking about Jewish women? I want to say this in a language that everybody understands,” Netanyahu said in December.

In response to such criticism, the visiting senior UN official stressed that the international community owes the Israeli victims “more than solidarity."

"We really want to ensure that you have justice at the end of the day, and that we put an end to this to this heinous crime,” she vowed.

Patten will personally visit the southern Israeli communities adjacent to Gaza that were invaded by some 3,000 terrorists who massacred more than 1,200 Israeli men, women, and children. In addition to the slaughter, Hamas terrorists and their allies also kidnapped some 240 Israelis and foreign civilians into the Gaza Strip.

After nearly four months since the abduction, more than 100 hostages are still being held by Hamas and its Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) allies in flagrant violation of international law. While there has reportedly been progress in U.S.-led hostage release negotiations in Paris, France, significant gaps in agreement remain.

Hamas is reportedly demanding a permanent end to the current war, which was initiated by the terror group with the Oct. 7 border invasion and attack.

While Israel is prepared to accept a limited ceasefire to save its own hostages, Jerusalem has vowed to eventually dismantle the Iranian-supported terror proxy that openly calls for Israel’s destruction.