The US envoy to the UN on Friday sharply criticised the world body's decision to add the Israeli military and security forces to a blacklist of parties suspected of committing conflict-related sexual violence.
“It’s ridiculous for the UN to put a democracy like Israel – with robust rule of law that conducts investigations and holds criminals accountable – on the same level as terrorist organisations like Hamas & ISIS which deliberately target civilians for sexual violence as a weapon of terror,” Mike Waltz wrote on social media.
The criticism came after the release of Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s annual report on conflict-related sexual violence.
The UN report cited what it described as a continuing pattern of sexual violence and abuse committed against Palestinian detainees.
“In 2025, the UN verified multiple incidents of conflict-related sexual violence, including as a form of torture, inflicted against 14 men, seven women, nine boys and one girl from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” the report said.
It said violations included “rape, including with objects, gang rape, attempted rape, physical violence to the genitals, instances of targeted shooting of the genitals, touching of breasts and genitals, strip and cavity searches conducted without apparent security justification, forced nudity and threats of rape".
The report identified the alleged perpetrators as “Israeli armed and security forces, namely the Israel Defence Forces, Israel Prison Service, including the Keter special forces, and the Police Counter-Terrorism Unit (Yamam)".
Israel's ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said on Thursday that his country was "done" with Mr Guterres.
He added that Israel had appeared on the list alongside “the most depraved terrorist organisations in the world”.
The Israeli mission to the UN said it would have “no contact” with the Secretary General's office as long as Mr Guterres leads it.
At UN headquarters in New York, Pramila Patten, the special representative on sexual violence in conflict, defended the decision to include Israeli forces on the list.
“Israeli forces were listed on the basis of credible information indicating continued patterns of rape and other forms of sexual violence, with an increase in the number of verified cases this year,” Ms Patten told reporters, outlining the accusations.
“This is part of a pattern of sexual violence against Palestinians, including as a form of torture.”
Ms Patten added that “explicit threats were made by Israeli armed and security forces war warning detainees not to report abuse to media or human rights organisations".
She said UN investigators faced severe restrictions on access to detention facilities and conflict zones, forcing the organisation to rely heavily on interviews conducted after detainees had been released.
Ms Patten also said that while Israeli authorities had provided information about laws, policies and training programmes, they had not submitted evidence demonstrating accountability for alleged violations.
“I mentioned the Sde Teiman [a military detention camp] case. This is an emblematic case which shows the total lack of accountability,” she said.
“The evidence was solid. The Commission of Inquiry made it very clear that there was solid evidence of sexual violence. The Palestinian detainee suffered life-threatening injuries.”
Ms Patten noted that 10 soldiers were initially arrested in connection with the case but that charges were ultimately dropped.
“The case was initially investigated as sexual violence, the indictment did not contain charges of sexual violence, it was on physical assault, and even those charges were dropped,” she said.
“So, where is the accountability?”
