JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel’s foreign minister said on Monday he has recalled the country’s UN ambassador for consultation over alleged UN attempts to keep quiet a report on sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas.
“I ordered our ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, to return to Israel for immediate consultations regarding the attempt to keep quiet the serious UN report on the mass rapes committed by Hamas and its helpers on Oct. 7,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
Katz criticized UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for not convening the security council to discuss the findings and in order to declare Hamas a terrorist organization.
The United Nations declined to comment. The U.N. special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, is due to present the report publicly later on Monday.
In a separate statement, ambassador Erdan said: “It took the UN five months to finally recognize the shocking sexual crimes committed during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.”
“Now that the report on the sexual atrocities and sexual abuse that our hostages in Gaza are going through, the shameful silence by the UN that is not holding even one discussion on the issue screams to the heavens,” he said.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alistair Bell)
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