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Published : 28 May 2026, 09:46 PM
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN) has said the organisation has added Israel to its blacklist of parties accused of sexual violence in conflict zones.
Describing the move as unfair, Israeli envoy Danny Danon said on Thursday that the decision was “political” and “detached from the facts and from reality”, Middle East Eye reported on Thursday.
The development comes after human rights organisations and media outlets published reports alleging rape and other sexual abuses by Israeli forces against Palestinians since October 2023.
In a listing, the Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) would appear on the 2026 blacklist, while other Israeli agencies are still being monitored for possible inclusion in the future.
The Jerusalem Post also reported that Israel suspended contact with the UN secretary-general's office after the listing.
Middle East Eye quoted Danon as saying, “The UN secretary-general has put Israel on the same blacklist as Hamas, ISIS [Islamic State], and the most depraved terrorist organisations in the world.
“This is a moral disgrace and a complete collapse of any credibility left to the UN.”
Issued as part of the UN chief’s annual report on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV), the blacklist names state and non-state actors suspected of being responsible for systematic rape or other forms of sexual abuse during armed conflict.
The report is generally published in August, with listed parties usually remaining on the blacklist for a minimum of one year, Middle East Eye reported.
Hamas was among the 63 parties included in the 2025 report.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, Israeli soldiers and prison personnel have been accused of carrying out severe abuses against Palestinian detainees, ranging from torture and starvation to rape and degrading treatment.
According to Middle East Eye, nearly 100 Palestinian prisoners have allegedly died while in Israeli custody under such conditions.
Of which, around half reportedly died in military detention centres, while the rest were held in IPS prisons.
Released detainees have recounted mistreatment and abuse in Israeli custody.
Middle East Eye has reported in December that two Palestinians detained in different Israeli prisons claimed to have suffered from violent sexual assault.
One detainee alleged that he was dragged into a room where he was kicked, stamped on, insulted, and raped with an object while blindfolded for nearly an hour, while the other said he was raped by trained military dogs.
An enquiry by the UN last year accused Israel of using sexual violence and torture as “a method of war... to destabilise, dominate, oppress and destroy the Palestinian people”.
Middle East Eye also cited findings by the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, which characterised the prison system as a “network of torture camps”.
The group said detainees had faced the “repeated use of sexual violence”, including “gang sexual violence and assault committed by a group of prison guards or soldiers”.
