“Hamas’s attack on October 7 included brutal sexual assaults, carried out systematically and deliberately towards Israeli civilians”

2024-02-21 18:11:32

The use of rape as a weapon of war by Hamas and Palestinian “civilians” during the October 7 attacks and upon hostages abducted that day is well-documented, and has been confirmed even by news outlets traditionally hostile to Israel, like the NY Times and Associated Press.

Nonetheless, there is a concerted rape-denialism movement stoked by the same people who also claim Israeli killed many if not most of the October 7 Israeli and foreign victims. They exploit the fact that the Palestinians murdered almost all of the rape and sexual assault victims on the spot, so there are few if any survivors to step forward. Israel also was in the midst of a chaotic mass casualty event and invasion where the bodies were in the middle of a war zone. It took many days, and in some cases weeks, to round up all the Palestinian infiltrators, so not as much evidence was preserved and documented as might have happened in an isolated event. But witness testimony and forensic evidence has been accumulating.

The Palestinian perpetrators filmed their atrocities, bragged about it, and celebrated it. Captured terrorists have confirmed that rape was the plan, even of dead bodies.

We covered much of the documentation and reports of sexual violence in real time (see posts at bottom of this post).

The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel has released a report gathering up and summarizing much of the reports, testimonies, and evidence, Sexual Crimes in the October 7 War (pdf.):

Abstract

Hamas’s attack on October 7 included brutal sexual assaults, carried out systematically and deliberately towards Israeli civilians. Numerous testimonies and pieces of disclosed and classified information present a clear picture of identical patterns of action repeated in each of the attack zones – the Nova Festival, private homes in the Gaza envelope kibbutzim, and IDF bases. With the abduction of 254 individuals to the Gaza Strip areas, sexual assaults continued to occur also in this arena. Therefore, there is a high likelihood that the kidnapped women and men in Hamas captivity are still at risk of sexual abuse at any given moment.

Hamas’s attack included violent acts of rape, accompanied by threats with weapons, and in some cases targeted towards injured women. Many of the rapes were carried out as a group, with the participation of violent terrorists. Often, the rape was perpetrated in front of an audience – partners, family, or friends – in a manner intended to increase the pain and humiliation of all present. Hamas terrorists hunted young women and men who fled the Nova festival, and according to testimonies, dragged them by their hair amid screams. The actions targeted women, girls, and men. In most cases, the victims were killed after or even during the rape.

A series of testimonies, interviews, and additional sources attest that Hamas terrorists employed sadistic practices aimed at intensifying the degree of humiliation and terror inherent in sexual violence. Many of the bodies of sexual crime victims were found bound and shackled. The genitals of both women and men were brutally mutilated, and sometimes weapons were inserted into them. The terrorists did not stop at shooting; they also cut and mutilated sexual organs and other body parts with knives.

This report is the result of an initial examination of all the public and classified information, interviews, and testimonies that can be Silent Cry Sexual Crimes in the 7.10 War 5 revealed at this time, which will likely increase with time. The report clearly demonstrates that sexual abuse was not an isolated incident or sporadic cases but rather a clear operational strategy.

Those who choose to remain silent, silence others, or deny the sexual crimes committed by Hamas will be remembered accordingly.

The Report has received extensive western media coverage, including in The Daily Mail:

Hamas terrorists raped and mutilated Israeli civilians, leaving an ‘apocalypse of bodies’ which were missing limbs at the site of the Nova music festival as gunmen swept through southern Israel on October 7, a harrowing new report has claimed.

The horrific report details ‘sadistic’ crimes alleged to have occurred at the festival, in surrounding villages, on IDF bases and in captivity in Gaza.

It describes the violence endured by men and women, some of whom were allegedly killed while they were being brutalised, as others were made to watch the sexual abuse of their friends and family members before being murdered.

The chilling report from the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel was presented to the UN Special Envoy on Sexual Violence in Conflict Areas, who visited Israel earlier this month to hear testimonies of sexual abuse.

An overview of the findings states: ‘Hamas terrorists employed sadistic practices aimed at intensifying the degree of humiliation and terror inherent in sexual violence. ‘Many of the bodies of sexual crime victims were found bound and shackled.

‘The genitals of both women and men were brutally mutilated, and sometimes weapons were inserted into them. The terrorists did not stop at shooting, they also cut and mutilated sexual organs and other body parts with knives.’

The testimonies included claims Hamas gunmen repeatedly stabbed an injured woman while they raped her; that victims had nails, grenades and knives inserted into their sexual organs; and how survivors fleeing the festival witnessed ‘girls whose pelvises were simply broken from being raped so much’.

The report concluded Hamas insurgents operated systematically to target both women and men in villages and kibbutzim during the assault, executing victims during or after instigating sexual abuse.

Orit Sulitzeanu, CEO of ARCCI, claimed partners, family and friends were forced to watch horrific acts performed often in groups to ‘increase the pain and humiliation for all present’.

You can read the full report at the bottom of this post.

From our prior reporting: