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- Various UN groups this week spoke out about allegations of rape and sexual assault by Hamas attackers on 7 October.
- Campaigners, some but not all affiliated with Israel, have long decried the lack of focus on those allegations.
- The UN's rights chief has promised an investigation, with or without Israel's help.
Two months after Hamas attacked Israel, fresh promises of investigation, and fresh condemnation, are giving campaigners hope that victims of alleged sexual violence may see justice after all.
Even if that won't be soon, and the process is likely to be fraught with difficulties.
This week, United Nations high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk said he would find a way to investigate the allegations of Hamas sexual violence, with or without Israel's help.
His office would like to establish if sexual violence had been premeditated, and whether it had been systematic, as Israel alleges.
Turk said he had sought to deploy a team to Israel, but had received no response to his request.
The relationship between the UN and Israel has worsened through the war, as UN secretary-general António Guterres called for a ceasefire and the protection of civilians in Gaza, and highlighted evidence of crimes by both Israel and Hamas.
The evidence
Pictures and videos captured by Hamas fighters, and footage and stills of the immediate aftermath, showed signs of sexual assault. Police in Israel have said they have many accounts of gang rapes and post-mortem mutilation of women's bodies.
First responders and mortuary attendants described many women's bodies stripped from the waist down, and clear signs of trauma to their genital areas.
A doctor who treated some of the hostages released by Hamas and Islamic Jihad reported at least 10 instances of sexual assault or abuse.
Israel says most of those who were raped were killed, leaving only a handful of survivors to give direct testimony, and those remain under psychiatric care.
Hamas has rejected all allegations of sexual violence as "unfounded lies" and part of an Israeli disinformation campaign, except in cases where it said people not affiliated with Hamas joined in the attack.
A growing chorus of condemnation
Pressure from both Israel and its supporters, and anti-rape campaigners not affiliated with Israel, has been steadily growing, and this week, in the middle of the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign, those efforts finally seemed to gain momentum.
US President Joe Biden called for governments and international organisations to "forcefully condemn the sexual violence of Hamas terrorists without equivocation".
Catherine Russell, head of the UN children's agency UNICEF, described the accounts of sexual violence on 7 October as "horrific", and called on survivors to be heard and supported.
On Tuesday, UN Women issued a statement saying it is "alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence" during the Hamas attack, and called for investigation and prosecution "with the rights of the victim at the core."
Not long before, the UN's Guterres called for "numerous accounts of sexual violence" by Hamas to be "vigorously investigated and prosecuted".
Also this week, a United Nations meeting watched video evidence of sexual assault by Hamas attackers, and condemned the failure to act on such evidence until now.
"Organisations, governments, and individuals who are committed to a better future for women and girls have a responsibility to condemn all violence against women," said former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton in a video address. "It is outrageous just that some who claim to stand for justice are closing their eyes and their hearts to the victims of Hamas."
- Additional reporting by Reuters and News24
