October 7 attacks in Israel: Sexual violence perpetrated “systematically” by Hamas, report says

To the horror’s end. A Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 led to systematic and premeditated sexual violence, a report published Wednesday by an Israeli organization suggests. Israeli officials have accused Hamas of rampant sexual assaults there, including rape and genital mutilation, which the Palestinian movement has always denied.

The lack of direct and public accounts from survivors and the absence of forensic expertise have not yet made it possible to paint a clear picture of these abuses and their scale. A report by the Association of Rape Support Centers in Israel (ARCCI), which oversees centers fighting sexual violence nationwide, described the abuse as an integral part of the October 7 attack.

In this context, he highlights the “similarities” in all the attacks – on the Nova music festival, the kibbutzim, the military base and the hostages. Sexual violence was perpetrated there “systematically and deliberately against Israeli civilians,” notes the report, based on testimonies and interviews with witnesses (but not victims), sometimes reported in the media.

“Rape, many of them in meetings, at gunpoint”

He specifically mentions “rapes, many of them in meetings, at gunpoint”. The report quoted a survivor of the Nova Festival attack who described “a revelation of dead bodies, naked girls, sometimes in the upper body, sometimes in the lower body”. In Kibbutz Biri, where 90 residents were killed, rescuers said they found “bodies showing signs of sexual assault”.

Sexual assaults were also reported at the attacked military bases, the report added, significantly quoting a soldier stationed at one of them, who said he saw the bodies of at least ten female soldiers with obvious signs of sexual violence.

Hostages who have since been released have also spoken of sexual assault. Like Chen and Agam Goldstein, who, after being released after 51 days of detention, said they “encountered at least three female hostages who were sexually assaulted during their captivity”. The report, which includes sometimes gruesome descriptions, also mentions the mutilation of victims, including men.

Critical investigation

The allegations are the subject of a complex investigation in Israel, made difficult by the absence of a postmortem examination in the chaos of the days following the attack, and when Jewish religious tradition recommends quick burial of the dead.

Pramila Patten, the UN special representative in charge of sexual violence in the conflict, visited Israel in late January, where she called on October 7 for women victims of alleged sexual crimes to “break the silence” and tell what they had endured.

In early December, UNICEF condemned the October 7 “sexual violence” committed against Israeli women, a condemnation Israel considers late and insufficient because it does not mention its perpetrators, Hamas gunmen.