Israel has urged the UN to act on an independent report accusing Hamas of using sexual violence as a “genocidal” weapon during its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, AFP reports.

“It took far too long for the UN to even acknowledge that such violence took place,” Israeli ambassador Daniel Meron told reporters at the UN in Geneva. “Conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence was used against Israelis … in a brutal and calculated way, and yet the United Nations has not acted.”

Meron spoke with members of the Dinah Project, an independent Israeli group of legal experts who released a report this week saying that “sexual violence was widespread and systematic” on October 7 in at least six locations.

Hamas, it said, “used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorising and dehumanising Israeli society”.