میدل-ایست-آیVideo: UK foreign secretary avoids question on use of rape as war weapon by Israel
Video: UK foreign secretary avoids question on use of rape as war weapon by Israel
UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper avoided giving a direct response to a question about the sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons at a conference in Bahrain on Saturday.
Instead, Cooper referred to global commitments under UN Resolution 1325, which she said aims "to protect women and girls from the horrors of war."
Since the genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, Israeli prison authorities and the military have been widely accused of abusing Palestinian detainees, including through rape, starvation, torture and the denial of medical treatment.
In March, the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found evidence of the systematic use of sexual violence by Israeli officers against Palestinians since the start of the war.
The commission said it had documented cases of rape and sexual assault of male detainees.
Criminal investigations against Israeli soldiers rarely result in prosecutions in Israel.
