[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 51 (Friday, March 22, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2602-S2603]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  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:

                              S. Res. 620

       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

[[Page S2603]]

       (2) demands that the international community hold 
     accountable those who perpetrated acts of sexual violence and 
     sexual torture during and after that attack.

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