Ilana Gritzewsky, who was held hostage by Hamas, addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, delivering a personal testimony of the sexual violence she endured in captivity and accusing the international community of silence and denial over the crimes committed by Hamas.
Former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky, abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023, confronted the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday with a firsthand account of Hamas sexual violence. The survivor, describing herself as "living proof" of Hamas's systematic sexual crimes, addressed the council's 58th session and accused the international body and its member states of failing to acknowledge and condemn the atrocities committed against Israeli hostages.
Gritzewsky's appearance follows a previous confrontation with the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women in New York last week, in which she accused the envoy of omitting Hamas sexual violence from official reports. The survivor's latest testimony at the Human Rights Council lands amid ongoing international debate over the UN's handling of gender-based violence allegations in the October 7 attack context.
As The Zioneer has reported, Gritzewsky previously confronted UN officials in New York over the same issue. Her testimony in Geneva marks a continued effort by former hostages and their advocates to press international bodies to explicitly recognize and investigate reports of sexual violence committed by Hamas. The council has not yet formally responded to her address.
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