Israeli and Russian forces added to annual UN blacklist documenting sexual violence in conflicts
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WARNING: This article contains information about sexual harassment and violence.
The United Nations’ annual report on sexual violence in conflicts around the world has included Israeli forces for the first time since a review began 15 years ago about its treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
Israel denies the charges.
The 35-page report – shared by Israel’s UN mission late Thursday ahead of its release on Friday – criticizes 77 government and non-governmental groups in a dozen countries accused of perpetrating or perpetrating sexual violence in conflicts around the world. It says the number of cases has increased significantly in 2025 from 2024.
Russian armed forces and security forces were also blacklisted for the first time this year for sexual violence against prisoners of war and civilians held during the war in Ukraine.
The 2025 list includes Israel’s armed and security forces and Hamas terrorists, who were previously blacklisted after their attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Both Israel and Russia were warned in a report last year by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that they can be included in the list.
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The anger of the UN secretary-general
Ambassadors of both countries expressed their displeasure at the inclusion and criticized Guterres.
“We will write a letter to the Secretary-General saying that these are unsubstantiated lies and allegations that once again portray Russia as a villain, as they always do,” said UN Ambassador to Russia Vassily Nebenzia. He said Russia is writing and preparing a report on how Ukrainians treat Russian prisoners of war.
“We are done with this UN Secretary-General,” said Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, in a statement on social media. “Guterres has put Israel on a blacklist along with Hamas, ISIS and the world’s most corrupt terrorist organizations.”
Guterres’ second five-year term ends on December 31.
Danon said Israel has provided documents, information and detailed responses to the allegations raised in the report.
The report said that in 2025, the UN was able to document “patterns of sexual violence” against Palestinians detained in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and confirmed many incidents of conflict-related violence, including torture, which involved 14 men, seven women, nine boys and one girl in Gaza and the West Bank. It said 13 cases occurred in 2025 and 18 in 2023 and 2024.
“Crimes include rape, rape, gang rape, attempted rape, violence against the genitals, incidents of targeted shootings of the genitals, touching of the breasts and genitals, searches of body parts and pores without security reasons, forced nudity and threats of rape,” the report said.
Chief political reporter Rosemary Barton talks to Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly about the alleged weaponization of sexual violence in Ukraine and the work she and her UK counterpart, Liz Truss, are doing to bring those responsible to justice.
It described at least nine victims, mostly from Gaza, who were gang-raped or gang-raped, in some cases multiple times, by criminals from the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli prisons, its special forces and police units.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday it “absolutely, completely, and unequivocally denied these allegations.”
“This decision is yet another example of the UN’s long-standing hostility towards Israel,” the State Department wrote in X.
The report also includes allegations of sexual violence by Hamas, but says many details could not be independently verified because the Israeli government continues to deny the UN the access it needs to conduct an investigation.
