[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 620 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






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 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
    Resolved, 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.
                                 <all>