More than 500 rape cases have been reported to five clinics in Ethiopia's Tigray region, the UN said, warning that actual numbers could be much higher.

“Women say they have been raped by armed actors, they also told stories of gang rape, rape in front of family members and men being forced to rape their own family members under the threat of violence,” Wafaa Said, deputy U.N. aid coordinator in Ethiopia, said in a briefing to U.N. member states in New York.

Ethiopia's ambassador to the UN, Taye Atskeselassie Amde, told Reuters.

“Ethiopia has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual crimes and anyone found responsible for the despicable acts will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.

Dozens of witnesses in Tigray said that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea regularly killed civilians, gang-raped and tortured women, and looted homes and crops during the conflict.

Eritrea has repeatedly denied that its troops were in Tigray, although Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed acknowledged the presence of Eritrean troops in the region.