III 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 620 

Demanding that the international community hold accountable those who 

perpetrated acts of sexual violence and sexual torture during and after 

the attack on the State of Israel on October 7, 2023. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2024 

Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mrs. BRITT, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, and Ms. ERNST) submitted the following resolution; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Demanding that the international community hold accountable those who perpetrated acts of sexual violence and 

sexual torture during and after the attack on the State 

of Israel on October 7, 2023. 

Whereas, on October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an 

unprovoked attack against the State of Israel, brutally 

murdering more than 1,200 innocent men, women, and 

children while injuring thousands more; 

Whereas, from January 29, 2024, to February 14, 2024, at 

the invitation of the Government of the State of Israel, 

United Nations Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on Sexual Violence in Conflict (SRSG–SVC) 

Pramila Patten, along with technical experts, led an official visit to the State of Israel to gather information in 


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•SRES 620 IS 

order to verify allegations of sexual violence and sexual 

torture committed during and after the October 7 attack; 

Whereas the SRSG–SVC and technical experts conducted a 

total of 33 meetings with personnel from Israeli national 

institutions and visited the Israeli National Center of Forensic Medicine, the Shura military base, the morgue 

where bodies of victims have been transferred, and four 

locations attacked on October 7; 

Whereas the SRSG–SVC and technical experts reviewed more 

than 5,000 photographic images and approximately 50 

hours of footage of the October 7 attack and conducted 

confidential interviews with a total of 34 interviewees impacted by the attack, including survivors, witnesses, released hostages, first responders, and health and service 

providers; 

Whereas the SRSG–SVC and technical experts were made 

aware that there are victims still undergoing treatment 

for the severe mental distress and trauma endured as a 

result of the sexual violence committed against them both 

during and after the October 7 attack; 

Whereas, on March 4, 2024, the SRSG–SVC released a report containing the findings of the official visit; 

Whereas, according to the report released by the SRSG–SVC, 

‘‘there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations’’, with 

most victims first being raped and then murdered; 

Whereas, according to the report released by the SRSG–SVC, 

there are ‘‘accounts of individuals who witnessed at least 

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counts that describe ‘‘multiple murdered individuals, 

mostly women, whose bodies were found naked from the 

waist down, some totally naked, with some gunshots in 

the head and/or tied including with their hands bound behind their backs and tied to structures such as trees or 

poles’’; 

Whereas, according to the report released by the SRSG–SVC, 

there were multiple incidents of sexual violence, including 

the rape of multiple women, along Road 232, one of the 

main roads along which attendees of the Nova music festival and other locals fled during the October 7 attack; 

Whereas, according to the report released by the SRSG–SVC, 

in Kibbutz Re’im, there were multiple incidents of sexual 

violence, including the rape of a woman outside of a 

bomb shelter, and two women were found on the floor 

naked inside a home with gunshot wounds to their heads; 

Whereas, according to the report released by the SRSG–SVC, 

in Kibbutz Be’eri, credible information was received that 

bodies were ‘‘found naked and/or tied, and in one case 

gagged,’’ in destroyed houses and the surrounding area; 

Whereas, according to the report released by the SRSG–SVC, 

in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, first responders reported finding 

women naked with their hands tied behind their backs 

and with gunshot wounds to the head, indicating sexual 

violence and sexual torture; 

Whereas, according to the report released by the SRSG–SVC, 

at Nahal Oz military base, seven soldiers were discovered 

to have ‘‘gunshot wounds around the genitalia and/or 

buttocks’’; 

Whereas, according to the report released by the SRSG–SVC, 

‘‘the mission team found clear and convincing informaVerDate Sep 11 2014 15:55 Mar 23, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR620.IS SR620

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tion that some [hostages taken to Gaza] have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence 

including rape and sexualized torture and sexualized 

cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and it also has 

reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be 

ongoing’’; 

Whereas, despite the overwhelming evidence that sexual violence was committed during and after the October 7 attack, the ‘‘visit [by the SRSG–SVC and technical experts] was neither intended nor mandated to be investigative in nature’’; and 

Whereas, under Article 34 of the Charter of the United Nations, ‘‘The Security Council may investigate any dispute, 

or any situation which might lead to international friction 

or give rise to a dispute, in order to determine whether 

the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to endanger the maintenance of international peace and security.’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) calls upon the United States to insist that 

3 the United Nations Security Council open an official 

4 investigation into the sexual violence and sexual tor5 ture committed during and after the attack on the 

6 State of Israel on October 7, 2023; and 

7 (2) demands that the international community 

8 hold accountable those who perpetrated acts of sex9 ual violence and sexual torture during and after that 

10 attack. 

Æ 


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