The United Nations (UN) has included the Isreali defense forces for the first time in over 15 years for its treatment of Palestinian prisoners in its annual report documenting sexual violence in conflicts worldwide. Israel continues to deny the accusations.
The Israeli mission to the UN shared the 35-page-report on Thursday ahead of its expected release on Friday. The report blacklists 77 government and non-government parties in a dozen countries suspected of committing sexual violence in conflicts across the globe.
Russian armed and security forces were also blacklisted for the first time for sexual violence against prisoners of war and civilians detained during the invasion in Ukraine.
This list also includes Hamas militants, who were previously blacklisted after the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had warned both Israel and Russia in last year’s report that they could be put on the list.
The Ambassadors of both countries reacted strongly to their inclusion.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, “We will write a letter to the Secretary-General saying that these are unsubstantiated lies and alleged things which again portray Russia as a villain, like they do all the time.”
Nebenzia added that Russia was documenting and preparing a report on how the Ukrainians were treating Russian prisoners of war.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said in a statement on social media, “We are done with this UN Secretary-General. Guterres has put Israel on the same blacklist along with Hamas, ISIS and the most depraved terrorist organisations in the world.”
Danon said Israel had provided documents, data, and detailed responses to the allegations in question.
According to the 2025 report, the UN documented “patterns of sexual violence” against Palestinians detained in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. It also verified multiple incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, including torture, on 14 men, seven women, nine boys, and one girl from Gaza and the West Bank. 13 cases reportedly occurred in 2025 while 18 happened in 2023 and 2024.
The report also included accusations of sexual violence by Hamas. However, the UN could not independently verify many of the details due to the Israeli government’s refusal to grant access to carry out investigations.
While Russian authorities also denied access to UN human rights investigators, they were still able to verify 310 conflict-related sexual violence cases in Russia and Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine against prisoners of war and civilian detainees, a vast majority of them being men.
