Former Israeli Hostages Detail Sexual Violence in Captivity for the First Time in ‘Most Comprehensive’ Report on Hamas Atrocities

Previously unreported accounts of rape and sexual abuse during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacare are laid bare in a new report that seeks to “set the record straight” on the terror group’s systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. The 80-page report, entitled “A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond,” was authored by a team of leading legal and gender experts who describe their work as the “most comprehensive assessment to date of the sexual violence that occurred during and after the attack.” The report draws on survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, forensic evidence, and interviews with first responders to conclude that Hamas deliberately used sexual violence during the October 7 attack to further its larger goal of dehumanizing, degrading, and terrorizing Israelis. The authors also present evidence of Hamas’s sexual violence continuing in captivity based off of testimony from 15 former hostages, 14 of whom had not spoken publicly about their experiences of sexual violence in Gaza until now. Two of the former captives are male. In addition to confirming Hamas’s systematic use of sexual violence, the authors also present the first legal framework for prosecuting Hamas terrorists for their crimes against humanity. ‘Silenced Forever’ While investigating the sexual violence perpetrated on October 7, the authors note that they confronted a unique challenge: the vast majority of those who were sexually assaulted on that day were among the 1,166 who were murdered and thus “silenced forever.” “Sexual crimes during war are — forgive me — a ‘perfect crime,’” one of the researchers, Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas, a former chief military prosecutor of the IDF, told the Times of Israel. She explained that amid the fog of war, “perpetrators can rely on the silence of their victims, either because they murder them, which was the case for most of the victims who were assaulted on October 7, or for the survivors. There is so much trauma and shame unique to the crime that they often won’t talk about it.” The researchers did manage to interview a victim of attempted rape at the Nova music festival who, after 17 months, came forward. Ms. Zagagi-Pinhas said that they “know from therapists there are more, but they are still too traumatized to speak.” Still, the authors were able to weave together testimony from eye- and ear-witnessess, first responders, healthcare workers, and morgue employees to conclude that Hamas raped and gang raped victims on October 7 across at least six locations, including the Nova music festival, Route 232, Nahal Oz military base, and Kibbutz Re’im, Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Across those sites, “Clear patterns emerged in how the sexual violence was perpetrated,” the authors write. Numerous bodies were found with foreign objects inserted into the genitals, others strewn on the ground with their legs spread and genitals exposed. Several corpses, mostly of women, were found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, often to structures like trees or poles. “All of the first responders who were at the Nova festival site described the same scenes: Dozens of female bodies naked or partially naked from the waist down, many of them bleeding from the genitalia as a result of gunshots,” the report notes. Ongoing Sexual AbuseBeyond the atrocities of October 7, the report sheds light on the ongoing sexual abuse of the hostages. Nearly all of the 15 returned hostages who spoke with the authors reported verbal or physical sexual harassment, including unwanted physical contact of their private parts or forced nudity. Many of them also faced threats of forced marriage, which, according the authors, “would constitute rape under the guise of marriage.” Two of the returned hostages who spoke about sexual violence in captivity were male. Both reported forced nudity and physical abuse while naked. One recounted being forced to shave all of his body hair, including on his intimate body parts. The report also references the testimony of released Israeli hostage, Amit Soussana, who was the first captive to speak publicly about her experiences of sexual abuse in Gaza. A few months after Ms. Soussana’s return from captivity in November 2024, the 40-year-old doctor told the New York Times that her captor had forced her to undress at gunpoint, groped her, and forced her to “commit a sexual act on him.” Ms. Soussana was one of the 250 men, women, and children who were abducted into Gaza on October 7. Fifty hostages, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive, remain. ‘Call To Action’The authors wrote the report not merely to document Hamas’s atrocities, but also to serve as a “call to action.” That is, they write, “to acknowledge the sexual violence that occurred on October 7 as crimes against humanity, to hold the perpetrators accountable, and to ensure that the tactical use of sexual violence by Hamas as a weapon of war receives the international condemnation and response it demands.” To that end, the authors call on the Israeli government to prosecute terrorists for sexual crimes as crimes against humanity and urge the United Nations to add Hamas to its list of parties responsible for conflict-related sexual violence. The authors acknowledge, however, that the current legal models are ill-equipped to address the unique challenges of wartime sexual violence. They thus outline several suggestions for prosecutors, including that they look beyond “direct victim testimony” and instead utilize eyewitness accounts, circumstantial evidence, and other forms of evidence. The authors also ask international and domestic legal bodies to apply the principle of “joint and derivative criminal responsibility” in prosecuting sexual crimes. Under that framework, all participants in the attack, even those who didn’t personally commit rape or sexual assault, are held accountable for enabling sexual violence. The recommendations, the authors note, are intended to guide domestic and international legal bodies “toward justice that is survivor centered, context-aware, and historically honest.” “Only by reckoning fully with the scope and nature of these crimes can we hope to ensure redress for victims, recognition for communities, and the prevention of such atrocities in the future,” they add. The report was presented on Tuesday to First Lady Michal Herzog who pledged to hold the guilty parties accountable. “This report tells the truth as it is — shocking, painful, but necessary,” Ms. Herzog said. “On behalf of all those who were harmed, we are committed to continuing the fight until their cries are heard everywhere and justice is done.” The report was headed by the Dinah Project, an Israeli women’s rights organization that emerged after October 7, 2023. The group was named after first rape victim in the Bible, Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, who was raped by Shechem, son of a prince. Although the whole chapter focuses on her rape and its aftermath — including her brothers’ violent revenge against the people of Shechem — Dinah does not pronounce a single word. One of the report’s authors, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, director of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, said that the project aims “to be a voice for those who cannot or can no longer speak.”

Former Israeli Hostages Detail Sexual Violence in Captivity for the First Time in ‘Most Comprehensive’ Report on Hamas Atrocities

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