University of Sydney professor tells first year students that Hamas' mass rapes on October 7 are 'fake news' and a 'hoax'

First year university students have been left 'repulsed' after a professor told them mass rapes committed by Hamas during the October 7 attacks were a 'hoax' and 'fake news'.

Sujatha Fernandes, a sociology professor at the University of Sydney, told her class in April that the media had 'distorted' the war, The Australian reports.

'Western media has played the role of an ideological state apparatus by suppressing coverage of the atrocities, peddling fake news,' Professor Fernandes said.

'(The media) promoted hoaxes that Hamas beheaded babies and carried out mass rape, in order to shore up support for Israel, and distorting events.'

The United Nations (UN) has said there were 'reasonable grounds' to believe Hamas carried out mass and gang rapes on October 7.

Professor Fernandes' continued her lecture by alleging that Israel had engaged in 'ethnic cleansing, collective punishment and forced starvation', the report also claims.

A number of students, who wished to remain anonymous, said they were shocked by Professor Fernandes' comments.

One said they didn't commit to four years and thousands of dollars worth of university classes to be taught by lecturers who 'blatantly promote lies and foster an unsafe, threatening environment'. 

Another student who identified themselves as Jewish said it reflected a 'rising trend of anti-Semitism' at the university.

They added that it was particularly concerning for a professor to 'deny undeniable proof of the events of October 7, which Hamas proudly filmed themselves doing'.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Professor Fernandes and the University of Sydney for comment. 

Pramila Patten, the UN's Special Representative of the ­Secretary-General on Sexual ­Violence in Conflict, said they witnessed 'scenes of unspeakable violence perpetrated with shocking brutality'.

Ms Patten said the acts committed on October 7 were 'a catalogue of the most extreme and inhumane forms of killing, torture and other horrors', including sexual violence.

Her team found 'convincing information' that sexual violence had been committed against hostages and those in captivity.

They reached the conclusion came after reviewing over 5,000 photographic images and some 50 hours of footage of the attacks.

However, part of the report also found that at least 'two allegations of sexual violence in kibbutz Be’eri — widely reported in the media — were unfounded'.