The United Nations has included Israeli entities on a blacklist of countries that commit sexual violence in war zones.
The addition of the Israeli Prison Service to the 2026 list has sparked outrage in Israel, as terror organisations such as Hamas and ISIS are also included in the catalogue.
Israeli UN ambassador Danny Danon condemned the move, saying in an X post: ‘The UN has added Israel to the blacklist of sexual violence in conflict zones, alongside the world’s most brutal terrorist organisations—Hamas and ISIS.
‘This is a political decision! Disconnected from the facts and reality! Israel submitted evidence, documents, and detailed responses to every claim.
‘We invited UN representatives to come to the field and examine things up close, and they, of course, chose not to do so.
‘When facts don’t fit the narrative, at the UN, they simply change the narrative.’
The decision to blacklist Israel comes after the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said last year he was ‘gravely concerned’ about reported sexual violence and other violations against Palestinians by Israeli security forces in several prisons, claims Israel denies.
Guterres placed Israel ‘on notice’ last August, saying that they could be listed as abusers in his next report on sexual violence in conflict, ‘due to significant concerns of patterns of certain forms of sexual violence that have been consistently documented by the United Nations.’
The addition of the Israeli Prison Service to the 2026 list comes after Hamas was included in the catalogue following reports of sexual violence following the October 7, 2023, attacks. File image shows Israeli hostage Noa Argamani being taken on the back of a Hamas militant’s motorcycle on October 7, 2023
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It came after Hamas had been added to the list following the October 7, 2023, attack, in which Israeli authorities reported that women were raped and sexually abused by Palestinian militants.
Israel said that the UN had come under pressure to include Israeli entities on the list as well, following Hamas’ inclusion, with Danon saying at the time that the allegations were ‘steeped in biased publications’.
Over the past year, several meetings have taken place between Danon and the Secretary General’s team.
Other Israeli authorities have entered a monitoring framework for the possibility of future inclusion.
Sexual violence has been heavily politicised since the war in Gaza began, with each side trying to discredit the other’s accusations.
Israel has pointed to incidents during the October 7 attacks and to the treatment of hostages to highlight what it says is Hamas’ savagery and to justify its wartime goal of preventing any repeated threat from Gaza.
The Israeli government has accused the international community of ignoring or playing down evidence of sexual violence, alleging anti-Israel bias.
The UN says it has found ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe that Hamas militants committed rape and other sexual violence during their rampage.
The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has said he had reason to believe that three key Hamas leaders bore responsibility for ‘rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity.’
Human rights groups and Palestinians rounded up by Israel after the attacks have also shared detailed testimonies of sexual violence and torture in Israeli prisons.
