The report points to “systematic” sexual violence during the October 7 terrorist attacks

A report by the Association of Rape Support Centers in Israel (ARCC), which oversees centers that combat sexual violence nationwide,

The Association of Rape Support Centers in Israel (ARCS), which oversees centers fighting sexual violence nationwide, published a report on Wednesday, February 21, on Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7. Highlighting “equality” Attacks against the Nova Music Festival, kibbutzim, military bases, and hostages were specifically mentioned in the report. “Rape, many of them in meetings, at gunpoint”.

There was sexual violence “systematically and deliberately against Israeli citizens”The study notes that it is based on testimonies and interviews of witnesses, but not of victims.

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.

Testimonies of freed soldiers and hostages

He thus describes a survivor of the attack on the Nova festival “Apocalypse of corpses, of naked girls, sometimes in the upper part of the body, sometimes in the lower part”. In Kibbutz Biri, where 90 residents were killed, rescuers said they had been found “Institutions 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 released after 51 days of detention, such as Chen and Agam Goldstein, said they faced “At least three female hostages sexually assaulted during their captivity”.

Israeli officials have accused Hamas of escalating sexual assaults, including rape and genital mutilation, during the October 7 attack, which the Palestinian movement has always denied.