Israeli female October 7 survivor blasts UN 'expert' for denying Hamas rapes

A United Nations expert on violence offered a shocking reaction when a female October 7 survivor confronted her for denying Hamas' rapes after she detailed her own sexual abuse at the hands of the terrorist group.

Ilana Gritzewsky testified at the UN Human Rights Council's 62nd session on Tuesday and offered an emotional account of the trauma Hamas inflicted on her when she was held as a hostage.

'On October 7, terrorists stormed our Kibbutz, murdering, kidnapping, and burning,' Gritzewsky said. 'They touched me and sexually abused me.'

Gritzewsky, who was brought to the floor by watchdog nongovernmental organization UN Watch, added that she had been sexually assaulted by at least seven Hamas terrorists.

She then turned her attention to Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, referencing a previous report she had written.

'Ms. Alsalem, you say there was no evidence of sexual violence on October 7,' Gritzewsky said. 'I am standing here today, not as a report, not as a statistic. I am a woman who survived. I am the living proof of sexual violence by Hamas.'

She added, 'When I and other Israeli women begged not to be raped, why were you silent? Please look at me. Do you believe us now? Will you apologize?'

Alsalem looked nonplussed by the stirring testimony, pursing her lips and slightly bobbling her head as Gritzewsky finished her grueling account.

Gritzewsky began her testimony by referencing Alsalem's report about violence against women before asking her: 'Why is there no mention of Hamas?'

She said she had been 'beaten and mutilated before blacking out.'

'I w[o]ke up half naked with seven terrorists standing over me, not knowing what happened to me in those lost moments,' Gritzewsky added.

Gritzewsky was released on November 30, 2023, during a weeklong ceasefire, according to The New York Times.

She and other women and children were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the outlet reported.

After being freed, she found out that her hip was broken. Gritzewsky told the UN that she was still reeling from being taken hostage.

'I went through days of pain and horror in captivity and, even now, the feeling of being powerless and violated still lingers,' Gritzewsky said.

She added: 'I came back with a broken hip, a broken jaw and a scarred soul. People see my face and think that I'm free, but freedom is not a switch. Trauma doesn't vanish once you are released.'

In December, Alsalem wrote that she had only received a report 'of sexual and gender-based violence' against Israeli women from Physicians for Human Rights Israel.

'This report was essentially a compilation of information drawn from Israeli sources, including government sources such as the Israeli army, and media outlets,' Alsalem said.

Alsalem has been the UN's Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls since August 2021.

She added that Physicians for Human Rights Israel later acknowledged the shortcomings in the report, linking to a copy in which the organization said that some testimonies referenced had 'been disputed or deemed unverifiable. '

Alsalem wrote: 'As such, it has been impossible for me to engage on the specific reports of sexual and gender-based violence relating to any individual victim or group of victims arising from the events of 7 October 2023.'

She accused Israel of refusing to cooperate and wrote she had 'received credible information from victims and their representatives that I was able to corroborate' regarding Palestinian women and girls.

The UN said in 2024 that it had found 'reasonable grounds' to believe that Hamas committed rape and other sexual violence on October 7, according to the Associated Press.

The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, previously said he had reason to believe that three Hamas leaders were responsible for 'rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity.'

In her report, Alsalem linked to a December 2023 press release in which UN experts said they 'expressed serious concern over the hostage-taking of Israeli women and girls by Hamas.'

The Embassy of Israel to the US reacted to Gritzewsky's remarks on X, writing that Hamas' sexual abuse of Israeli women had been 'ignored by the UN and dismissed by the world.'

'Shame on the UN for enabling a culture of rape apologists,' the embassy wrote Tuesday.

Source: Mail Online, Willko Martinez-Cachero, June 25, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

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