A 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.

Bill: 118-sres-620
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC]
Introduced: 2024-03-22
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2024-03-22
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Summaries:
action_date: 2024-03-22
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p>This resolution calls on the United States to insist that the United Nations Security Council open an investigation into the sexual violence and sexual torture committed during and after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.&nbsp;The resolution demands that the international community hold accountable those who perpetrated such acts.</p>

tv_txt: III 118th CONGRESS 2d Session S. RES. 620 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 Secretary-General 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 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 two incidents of rape of corpses of women and other accounts 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 information 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

That the Senate— (1) calls upon the United States to insist that the United Nations Security Council open an official investigation into the sexual violence and sexual torture committed during and after the attack on the State of Israel on October 7, 2023; and (2) demands that the international community hold accountable those who perpetrated acts of sexual violence and sexual torture during and after that attack.