The Hamas and other Palestinian organizations are guilty of “systematic sexual violence on a large scale” during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and during the detention of hostages in Gaza.
This is what report of an Israeli commission of inquiry released today.
“At the end of an independent two-year investigation, the Civilian Commission concluded that sexual and gender-based atrocities were systematic, large-scale and constitutive elements of the October 7 attacks and those that followed the those attacks,” writes the committee, which was created in November 2023 by an Israeli jurist specifically to investigate Hamas’ sexual crimes.
This 300-page report comes in addition to other investigations, mostly by the UN or international non-governmental organizations, as well as testimonies from survivors to document the extent of the sexual violence perpetrated that day during Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel, as well as against hostages during their hostage-taking in the Gaza Strip.
“At many points and in different phases of the attack, including the abduction, transfer and capture (of the hostages), Hamas and its allies repeatedly resorted to tactics of sexual brutality and torture against the victims,” the report said.
“These crimes are characterized by extreme brutality and profound human suffering, often inflicted in a manner that intensifies terror and humiliation,” it added.
The report is based, it says, on “extensive documentation including cinematic original testimonies of survivors and eyewitnesses, conversations, photographs, videos, official files and other primary sources originating from the sites of the attacks.”
Against denial and oblivion
Due to their nature, these documents are not available to the public, but can be consulted by experts if they request it, the committee said.
The authors of the report say they reviewed “more than 10.000 photographs and videos of the attack, representing a total of more than 1,800 hours of visual media analysis“, and conducted “more than 430 conversations, hearings or meetings [….] with survivors, eyewitnesses, former hostages, experts and family members” of the victims.
The investigation concludes with the “unquestionable” conclusion that “sexual and gender-based violence was a central element of the 7 October attack and the detention of the hostages”.
“These crimes constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide under international law,” the Political Committee adds.
“Numerous victims of these crimes did not survive to bear witness,” while “others continue to endure a deep trauma,” the committee notes, which hopes that, with its documentation work, “the suffering endured by the victims will not be undone nor erased nor forgotten” and that this documentation will provide “a solid basis for the facts, but also a legal basis” for those responsible to be prosecuted by the competent courts.
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