‘Unverifiable testimonies’: Experts say UN report ‘doesn’t serve justice’

A report published by a committee of United Nations experts on Thursday accused Israeli forces in Gaza of sexual and gender-based violence.

But a closer look at the 49-page report’s methodology and sources raises serious concerns about its credibility.

“By relying on unverifiable testimonies, omitting named sources, lowering evidentiary requirements, and even citing graffiti the commission has compromised its own credibility,” Yifa Segal, an international law expert told The Press Service of Israel.

The report, prepared by the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (COI), exclusively focuses on allegations against Israel while relegating Hamas’s crimes—especially those committed on October 7—to a separate document. While the commission claimed to have investigated sexual violence by Hamas, it did not give equal weight to these findings within the same report, instead highlighting the alleged violence of “Israeli Security Forces and settlers.”

“Since October 7, the COI has outrageously accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity in Gaza while refusing to say the same about Hamas,” Anne Herzberg, Legal Advisor of NGO-Monitor told TPS-IL. NGO-Monitor is a Jerusalem-based non-profit that monitors the activities of non-governmental organizations.

“It also downplayed the mass sexual violence committed on October 7 against Israeli women and girls, while now issuing an entire report dedicated to defaming the IDF with the false claim of perpetrating systematic gender-based violence against Palestinians,” Herzberg explained.

One of the most glaring issues in the report is its reliance on unnamed civil society organizations and women’s rights groups as sources. The commission stated that it “met with civil society and women’s rights organizations who provided information,” but failed to identify even a single group by name.

Nor did the report explain how these organizations gathered their information, whether they conducted independent investigations, or if they relied on politically motivated testimonies.

According to the report, allegations of sexual violence were verified using a different standard than other war crimes. While most accusations require corroboration by two independent sources, the commission claimed that for sexual violence, it may rely on a single testimony if it fit a “pattern” consistent with other reported cases.

“For any serious investigation to hold weight, it must be conducted with rigor, objectivity, and transparency—none of which are adequately present in this document,” said Segal. “The use of such flawed methodologies does not serve justice but instead fuels further polarization and undermines the legitimacy of human rights reporting.”

Said Herzberg, “The COI has done zero advocacy to free the hostages, while just this week held another two days of anti-Israel propaganda hearings. We hope the new US administration will cut all funding to the UN bodies responsible for providing millions of dollars to this egregious panel and that all countries of conscience will swiftly follow suit.”

‘A False Comparison’

Prominent Israeli women criticized the COI report, saying it created “a false moral comparison” between Israel and Hamas.

Cochav Elkayam-Levy, who headed Israel’s independent Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children, which worked to document accounts of Hamas’s sexual violence against Israeli women, said the report was part of “efforts to create a false comparison between Israel and Hamas, especially in the context of sexual violence.”

Said Elkayam-Levy, “This moral comparison is painful and wrong because its purpose is to establish false historical narratives and inflicts irreparable harm both on the victims and on justice. We have always believed in international institutions and the human rights system, but such conduct, which seeks to entrench false historical narratives, must end. We owe the truth to the victims.”

Hagit Peer, president of Israeli women’s rights group Na’amat, called the report “outrageous,” saying the document “attempts to turn the victim into the aggressor.”

Said Peer, “This report reeks of blatant antisemitism. There is an effort here to create an alternative and inverted reality regarding the sexual massacre carried out by Hamas against Israeli women and men, while international institutions remain deafeningly silent.”

At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 59 remaining hostages, 36 are believed to be dead.