Hamas systematically, extensively weaponized sexual violence on October 7, report reveals

Yahoo

13 hours ago

The full report, set to be released later this week by the "Dinah Project," presents further evidence that Hamas used sexual violence as a weapon against Israelis during the October 7 massacre.
Disclaimer: This article discusses sensitive topics including terrorism, violence, sexual violence, and trauma.
A new report, the most comprehensive one compiled to date on sexual violence by Hamas on October 7, is set to be published this week by the "Dinah Project," a research and legal initiative led by Professor Ruth-Halperin Kadari of Bar-Ilan University.
It presents extensive evidence that Hamas systematically and extensively used sexual violence as a weapon during the murderous terrorist attack on October 7. The report relies on new testimonies from hostages who returned from Gaza, victims of sexual violence, eyewitnesses, mental health professionals, and rescue workers.
According to an investigative report published on Sunday in The Sunday Times, the findings are deeply disturbing. Among them are the bodies of young women, naked or half-dressed, found tied to trees or poles. Some of these women had been shot in their intimate organs, and in some cases, they had undergone gang rape before being murdered. Eyewitnesses, including survivors who hid in bushes, described cases of attempted rape even after death.
The report identifies six main sites where serious sexual offenses occurred: the Nova Festival, Highway 232, the Nahal Oz base, and three kibbutzim—Kfar Aza, Re'im, and Nir Oz. The researchers noted a clear pattern across these sites, indicating systematic and premeditated actions.
Some of the testimonies come from 15 hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, including those who experienced sexual assault while in captivity. Only one of them, Amit Soussana, has spoken publicly so far.
Other survivors described forced exposure, sexual assaults, harassment, and threats of forced marriage. "Sexual violence doesn't have to be rape—forced nudity, bathing in front of captors, or explicit threats are also part of the picture," said Attorney Sharon Zaggi-Pinhas, former chief military prosecutor, who co-authored the report alongside Halperin-Kadari and retired Judge Neve Ben-Or.
The report was written in response to deep disappointment with the international community's reaction, particularly from organizations like UN Women, which refrained from condemning the findings already published months earlier in media investigations worldwide.
The researchers note that the international standard of "believing the victims" was not applied in this case. "Women all over the world chose to remain silent, and this is a profound moral failure," said Halperin-Kadari.
The report seeks to establish a new legal framework for handling mass atrocity cases where most victims are no longer alive, and a specific perpetrator cannot be identified. "The need to prove who harmed whom is irrelevant here," emphasized retired Judge Ben-Or. "The fact that sexual violence occurred as an integral part of the massacre requires the world to see this as the collective responsibility of Hamas."
The initiative, partially funded by the UK government, is named after Dinah, the biblical figure—Jacob's only daughter, whose story of rape appears in the Book of Genesis but whose voice was never heard. Like Dinah, the victims of October 7 mostly remain voiceless—either because they were murdered or because they still struggle to speak about their traumatic experiences. The goal of this initiative, its creators say, is "to give a voice to those who cannot."
Among the disturbing findings are testimonies of dozens of gang rapes, women found naked and tied to trees, a hostage who was subjected to full-body shaving, and victims who took months to come forward with their testimonies due to the deep trauma they suffered.
The report calls on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to send an independent investigative mission and to include Hamas on the list of groups using sexual violence as a weapon, alongside organizations like ISIS and Boko Haram. "What happened here was not accidental," concluded Zaggi-Pinhas. "It was a planned tactic—and the world cannot afford to turn a blind eye."