The Israeli foreign ministry has said a top UN official has arrived in Israel to gather details over the alleged sexual assault Hamas’s October 7 attack, AFP reports.

Pramila Patten, the UN envoy for sexual violence in conflict, arrived with a delegation and held several meetings on the first day of her trip.

“Patten was invited by the foreign ministry so that she could receive an unmediated impression of the extent of the atrocities and then bring Hamas’s crimes to the attention of the proper international authorities,” the ministry said in a statement.

During her trip Patten will meet survivors, witnesses and representatives of security forces to collect evidence of sexual violence committed against women and men during the attack, the ministry said.

Editorial

31 Jul, 2026

Expanding conflict

WITH neither of the belligerents willing to back down, and the theatre of conflict expanding geographically, the...
31 Jul, 2026

Spoils and spats

A FIGHT over assembly seats in Azad Jammu and Kashmir has laid bare what seem to be some deep resentments between ...
31 Jul, 2026

Unfair tax system

THE disclosure that the FBR collected nearly Rs1.9tr in sales and income taxes through electricity bills over the...
30 Jul, 2026

Debt that stays

THE power sector’s circular debt grew by Rs61bn in the last fiscal year, taking the total to roughly Rs1.67tr from...
30 Jul, 2026

HIV warning

THE HIV infections detected around two SESSI-run hospitals in Karachi demand far more than another hurried committee...
30 Jul, 2026

End trafficking

MODERN slavery, in the form of human trafficking, is among the state’s gravest failures. Scores of Pakistanis are...