Pramila Patten, along with a team of nine persons, spent around two weeks in Israel and the West Bank before writing a report in which she found that there are also “reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing”.
According to her, the team had “found clear and convincing information” demonstrating that some captives had experienced “sexualized torture” and other forms of conflict-related sexual violence similar to rape.
In the past, Hamas has refuted claims that its fighters had sexually assaulted women.