New Report Exposes Hamas’ ‘Tactical Use of Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War’ During Oct. 7 Attacks

A report released by Israeli NGO The Dinah Project on Tuesday exposes new evidence and details about the extent of the horrific sexual violence carried out by Hamas-led terrorists during their deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Dinah Project, headed by a team of leading legal and gender experts, was established to gain recognition and justice for victims and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) suffered during the Oct. 7  attacks or, later, as Hamas hostages in Gaza.

The Dinah Project said the goal of Tuesday’s 80-page report — titled “A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond” — is to expose that the violent sexual attacks perpetrated on Oct. 7 constitute crimes against humanity, and to ensure that the “tactical use of sexual violence by Hamas as a weapon of war receives the international condemnation and response it demands.”

The report, which has been compiled into a book, offers a legal framework on prosecuting such crimes and how the perpetrators should be held accountable. It is the “most comprehensive assessment to date” of the sexual violence that occurred both during the attack and, after, against hostages in captivity, according to The Dinah Project.

The report concluded that Hamas engaged in intentional, widespread and systematic sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack, with “recurring patterns” across at least six different locations: the Nova music festival, Route 232, Nahal Oz military base, and Kibbutzim Re’im, Nir Oz, and Kfar Aza. Victims of sexual violence were found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, often to structures like trees or poles. Evidence showed instances of gang-rape followed by execution, genital mutilation, and public humiliation.

Most of the rape victims were murdered during or right after the Oct. 7 attack. “There was more than one report of continuous sexual assault after the victim was no longer alive,” according to the report.

The Dinah Project spoke with former Hamas hostages who talked about experiencing sexual violence during captivity. Multiple ex-hostages reported forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sexual assaults, and threats of forced marriage. “Most victims were permanently silenced — either murdered during or after the assaults or remain too traumatized to talk,” said the Israeli NGO.

Hamas “used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorizing and dehumanizing Israeli society,” the report stated.

The report’s findings are based on first-hand survivor testimonies, including one survivor who opened up about attempted rape on Oct. 7, and 15 returned hostages who experienced or witnessed sexual violence. Data shared in the report is also based on at least 17 witnesses who described more than 15 separate incidents of sexual assault; testimonies from 27 first responders who saw clear signs of sexual violence; and morgue attendants who described indicators of sexual violence on dead bodies backed by photographic evidence.

The report detailed violent and graphic incidents of sexual violence including: “bodies with objects inserted into their private parts, bodies with signs of shooting or other mutilations in the area of the genitalia, bodies of naked women cuffed onto trees, bodies of half-naked or fully naked women, some lying with their genitalia exposed and legs spread.”

Researchers admitted facing some difficulty creating the report since “most victims were murdered; survivors and released captives may be too traumatized to come forward and testify against their abusers; and forensic evidence required for criminal convictions is difficult to obtain in crime scenes that remain war zones.”

These obstacles posed “profound challenges for establishing accountability and achieving justice,” they wrote.

The report was presented on Tuesday to Israel’s First Lady Michal Herzog. “This is not freedom fighting,” she said of Hamas’ acts of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attacks. “This is sheer violence.”

Sexual violence “should not be accepted as a tool of war in any conflict around the world,” she declared.

“The report lays out clear legal evidence: Hamas used sexual violence as a weapon of war,” the First Lady said in a message shared on the X account of her husband, Israeli President Isaac Herzog. “As a woman, a mother, and an Israeli, I read it with a broken heart. But silence, denial, and deflection must end—replaced by truth, justice, and recognition: these are crimes against humanity. To the survivors, to the hostages still suffering in Gaza: We see you. We hear you. We will not stop until justice is done—and every last one of you is home.”

Under international law, CRSV is, according to the United Nations, a war crime, a crime against humanity, a crime of torture, and can be a constitutive act of genocide.

“A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond” was authored by The Dinah Project’s founding members, Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari and Col. Res. Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas, and retired judge Nava Ben-Or. Nurit Jacobs-Yinon was the visual editor of the report.

The Dinah Project operates under the umbrella of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women at Bar-Ilan University.

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