Report Says Hamas Used Systematic Sexual Violence In Oct. 7 Attacks And Aftermath

A new report titled "Silenced No More" 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, an Israeli non-profit that researched and documented gender-based violence by Hamas after its 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

“Sexual violence was systematic and integral to Oct”

ABC News

The report describes a two-year investigation that drew on more than 400 testimonies and nearly 2,000 hours of visual analysis documenting 13 patterns of violence, including gang rape, sexual torture and forced nudity.

ABC News

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," as the report’s findings were also described as "systematic, widespread, and integral to" the assault.

The UN says it has found "reasonable grounds" to believe that Hamas militants committed rape and other sexual violence during their rampage, while 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."

The Civil Commission’s investigation, as described by CNN, presents sexual violence as a calculated strategy by Hamas and includes firsthand testimonies from more than 10 survivors who endured extreme sexual violence and sexual abuse during the attack, their abduction, or while held in captivity in Gaza.

CNN quoted a survivor hiding near the Nova Music Festival, saying, "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 it said the account was corroborated by another survivor.

BBC

CNN also reported that the report’s digital archive is designed to ensure the suffering endured by the victims could not be "denied, erased, or forgotten," and it said the material will not be accessible to the public for a set period of time to protect the privacy of the victims.

The Associated Press said the report’s findings could not be independently verified by The Associated Press, and critics have challenged some of Elkayam-Levy's previous research, while the Israeli government has accused the international community of ignoring or playing down evidence of sexual violence.

In a separate dispute over coverage, the Jerusalem Post reported that Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced an op-ed in the New York Times and wrote, "Aware of the report and its release date, the night before its release, the NYT ran a shameful attack on Israel, belittling Hamas’ sexual crimes."

Multiple outlets described the Civil Commission’s findings as establishing a basis for legal action, with France 24 reporting that the committee concluded Hamas and other Palestinian factions committed systematic and widespread sexual violence during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and during the hostage taking in Gaza.

“WARNING: This article contains details of sexual abuse”

CBC

France 24 said the report deemed these acts to amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and it described the report as a 300-page document issued Tuesday by a committee formed by an Israeli human rights organization in November 2023.

The Times of Israel reported that the study, entitled "Silenced No More," detailed 13 types of sexual violence and said the acts committed constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal acts under international law, with recommendations that Israeli authorities prosecute perpetrators specifically for such acts of sexual and gender-based violence.

The report’s scope was also framed in terms of evidence preservation, with the Civil Commission saying it reviewed more than 10,000 photographs and video segments and conducted more than 430 interviews, and it was described by Le Monde as reconstructing the signs and, in some cases, the evidence "site by site".

In the broader war context, the Globe and Mail reported that the war in Gaza began when Hamas launched the attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, while The Lancet medical journal estimated that between Oct. 7, 2023, and Jan. 5, 2025, some 75,200 people were killed in Gaza.