Israeli Non-Profit Report Says Hamas Used Systematic Sexual Violence In Oct. 7 Attacks

A new report by an Israeli non-profit says sexual violence was systematic, widespread and integral to the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks and their aftermath, and it was published Tuesday by the Civil Commission.

Civil Commission founder and chair Cochav Elkayam-Levy said, "Our findings demonstrate that it was a deliberate tactic within the broader architecture of the terror inflicted on victims and hostages," describing a two-year investigation that drew on more than 400 testimonies and nearly 2,000 hours of visual analysis documenting 13 patterns of violence.

ABC News

The report, titled "Silenced No More," says Hamas and its collaborators primarily targeted women and hostages but that children also were subjected to violence and abuse, including an example where two returning young hostages were forced to perform "sexual acts on one another."

The UN says it has found "reasonable grounds" to believe that Hamas militants committed rape and other sexual violence during their rampage, and the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said he had reason to believe that three key Hamas leaders bore responsibility for "rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity."

CNN says the report it shared first concludes that Hamas militants and their allies raped, assaulted and sexually tortured their victims during and after the October 7, 2023 terror attack on southern Israel "to maximize pain and suffering."

Elkayam-Levy told CNN, "The most important finding is the fact that the sexual violence on October 7 and against hostages in captivity has been a calculated strategy by Hamas," and CNN said the report includes firsthand testimonies from more than 10 survivors.

BBC

CNN described a case at the Nova Music Festival near the Gaza perimeter, quoting a survivor: "I heard one rape where they were passing her around. She was probably injured, judging by her screams—screams you have never heard anywhere," and CNN said the account is corroborated by another survivor.

CNN also reported that the report’s digital archive will not be accessible to the public for a set period of time to protect the privacy of the victims, and that CNN has not been able to verify all of the contents of the archive but has seen many of the visual materials included in it.

The report’s findings are being used alongside Israel’s legal moves, as the Knesset voted late on Monday to approve a law establishing a military court to try hundreds of Palestinian militants who took part in the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

“Hamas 'weaponised' sexual violence in 7 October attacks, Israeli investigation says An independent, Israeli investigation has published harrowing details of "systematic, widespread" sexual violence by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups during the attacks on 7 October 2023, and against hostages”

BBC

Reuters said the special military court to be formed under the law, to be chaired by a three-judge panel in Jerusalem, can also try others captured later in Gaza who are suspected of taking part in the attack, or of abducting or mistreating Israeli hostages, and that there is no trial date yet.

The law passed with an overwhelming majority of 93 of 120 lawmakers, and Yulia Malinovsky said before the vote, "Judges will preside, not the street, or what we all feel… ultimately, what makes us great is our spirit, our strength, and our ability to cope with this enormous pain, and to endure it."

Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, Hazem Qassem, condemned the legislation, saying it gives cover to what he described as "war crimes Israel committed in the Gaza Strip," while the International Criminal Court is investigating Israel’s conduct during the Gaza war and has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders killed by Israel since then.