The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Oct. 12, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel on Wednesday published an extensive report submitted to the UN detailing the sexual violence occurring both during the October 7 Hamas assault and afterwards against hostages, and stating that the attacks were executed in a systematic, deliberate and sadistic manner.
The 35-page report examined hundreds of pages of evidence including medical reports and testimonies by witnesses, survivors and first responders, much of which has not been made public.
A statement by the group said the report constituted “the first official research since October 7, consolidating evidence and providing conclusions”, including the fact that Hamas used rape as weapon of war.
“Several testimonies, interviews and additional sources indicate the use of sadistic practices by Hamas terrorists, aimed at intensifying the humiliation and fear of sexual abuse,” the report said. “Many victim’s bodies were found mutilated and bound, with sexual organs brutally attacked, and in some cases, weapons were inserted into them,” it said.
The report said that in several cases, families were forced to watch the terrorists carry out acts of sexual violence on their family members.
Orit Sulitzeanu, CEO of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, said the report left “no room for denial or disregard.”
“The terrorist organization Hamas chose to harm Israel strategically in two clear ways – kidnapping citizens and committing sadistic sexual crimes,” Sulitzeanu said. “Silence is no longer an option. We expect international organizations to take a clear stance; we cannot stand on the sidelines. Silence will be remembered as a historical stain on those who chose to remain silent and deny the sexual crimes committed by Hamas.”
Several of the 80 Israeli women and children released in a late November truce with Hamas have spoken out about the sexual abuse they experienced, and have described meeting other female hostages still in captivity who had been sexually assaulted.
In many instances, victims were murdered following their rape, but some were killed during the act itself. The report details with distressing clarity how the deceased were further desecrated, with the genitalia of both females and males grotesquely disfigured. Women were tied to trees, dragged by their hair, and had organs, including sexual organs, amputated. The report also details the rape of men.
The report was released a day after Israel rejected as “dispicable” a statement released by the UN Human Rights Commissioner alleging sexual abuse by Israeli forces on Palestinian women in Gaza. The UN statement, which cited UN monitors who have denied sexual violence on the part of Hamas, did not provide any evidence and neither did it explain how it carried out its investigation. It took UN Women to post a condemnation of the October 7 atrocities, and even then the tweet was deleted shortly thereafter.
