Hamas ‘systematically’ used sexual violence in 7 October attacks, report finds

Hamas and other Palestinian militant factions systematically used sexual violence during the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel and against hostages held in Gaza, according to an Israeli civilian-led commission’s findings.

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The commission, formed in November 2023, said its two-year investigation concluded that “sexual violence was repeatedly carried out in a systematic manner throughout the attack and its aftermath.” Hamas has consistently denied allegations of sexual assault.

The report, titled “Silenced No More,” was published Tuesday by the Civil Commission on Oct. 7 Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children, an independent panel established in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

The commission was founded and led by Cochav Elkayam-Levy, an attorney and international law expert who recently received the Israel Prize, Israel’s highest civilian honour.

The roughly 290-page report draws on UN investigations, survivor testimonies, filmed footage and a war-evidence archive containing more than 10,000 photographs and videos amounting to more than 1,800 hours of visual material.

It includes more than 430 testimonies from survivors, witnesses, experts and relatives of hostages, and documents victims from 52 nationalities.

Elkayam-Levy said each piece of evidence was cross-referenced and geolocated to withstand denial — a deliberate response to the controversy that arose after some early accounts of October 7 sexual violence, including testimony from ZAKA first responders, were later withdrawn or debunked.

The report identifies 13 forms of sexual and gender-based violence, including rape, gang rape, sexual torture, mutilation, forced stripping, executions linked to sexual violence, the filming and dissemination of assaults, and attacks against men and boys.

It concludes that these acts must be examined as possible war crimes, crimes against humanity, acts of genocide and terrorist acts as legal categories under international law, and that sexual violence was “a central element” of both the attack and the hostage-taking period.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) had previously sought arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders over their alleged responsibility for war crimes including rape and sexual violence. All three were killed in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and the court closed those proceedings.

The authors acknowledged that evidence was complicated by the deaths of many victims and the destruction of crime scenes, but said this “does not prevent prosecution, but rather requires an approach based on connecting multiple forms of evidence and identifying recurring patterns.”

The Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the 7 October attacks across southern Israel, and took 251 hostage. The Israeli government has accused the international community of ignoring or playing down evidence of sexual violence during the attacks, alleging anti-Israel bias.

The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of around 72,000 people, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its reports. Israel has previously disputed the figures. The UN and other international organisations have found the ministry’s figures to be largely reliable.

Roughly 90% of infrastructure in the Strip was damaged or destroyed before a US-brokered ceasefire brokered took effect last October.

While critics have challenged some of Elkayam-Levy’s previous research, a number of prominent figures, including Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel and Facebook pioneer Sheryl Sandberg, have endorsed her work.