Hamas Sexual Violence Report Documents Systematic Rape During October 7 Attack

A Civil Commission report concluded Hamas militants raped and sexually tortured victims during the October 7, 2023 terror attack on southern Israel. Cochav Elkayam-Levy's team spent more than two years and 1,800 hours analyzing over 10,000 photographs and video segments, documenting incidents including rapes at the Nova Music Festival. UN special representative Pramila Patten concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe conflict related sexual violence occurred.

October 7 sexual violence findings

• ▪The report on the October 7, 2023 attack describes sexual and gender-based violence against women, men and children as systematic, widespread, and integral to the assault.
• ▪The report on the October 7, 2023 attack details three separate incidents of rape at the site of the Nova Music Festival near the Gaza perimeter.
• ▪The report on the October 7, 2023 attack found that sexual violence has been a calculated strategy by Hamas.

Survivor testimonies

• ▪A survivor hiding near the Nova Music Festival during the October 7, 2023 attack heard one rape where the victim was being passed around and was probably injured, judging by her screams.
• ▪Former hostages Romi Gonen, Rom Braslavski, Arbel Yehud, Amit Soussana, and Ilana Gritzewsky have spoken publicly about their ordeal during or after the October 7, 2023 attack.

Evidence collection methodology

• ▪Cochav Elkayam-Levy is a human rights expert and lead author of the report on the October 7, 2023 attack.
• ▪The Civil Commission created a digital archive that contains all the evidence the team collected from the October 7, 2023 attack.
• ▪The Civil Commission decided not to rely on any information obtained through state interrogations for the October 7, 2023 attack report.
• ▪The Civil Commission team spent more than two years gathering, reviewing and cataloguing evidence from the October 7, 2023 attack.
• ▪The Civil Commission describes itself as an independent non-governmental group set up by Cochav Elkayam-Levy to document and preserve evidence from the October 7, 2023 attack.
• ▪The Civil Commission team conducted hundreds of interviews and meetings with survivors, first responders, forensic examiners and medical experts for the October 7, 2023 attack report.
• ▪The Civil Commission team spent some 1,800 hours analyzing more than 10,000 photographs and video segments from the October 7, 2023 attack.

International response politicization

• ▪The report on the October 7, 2023 attack was publicly endorsed by Sheryl Sandberg and Hillary Clinton.
• ▪Cochav Elkayam-Levy was awarded the 2024 Israel Prize, widely considered to be the country's highest civilian honor.
• ▪Cochav Elkayam-Levy has received threats, including death threats, related to her work on the October 7, 2023 attack report.

Hamas denials

• ▪United Nations special representative on sexual violence in conflict Pramila Patten concluded after a fact-finding mission that there were reasonable grounds to believe that conflict related sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred during the October 7, 2023 attack.
• ▪Pramila Patten was not able to meet any survivors during her visit but her team visited the sites of the October 7, 2023 attacks and interviewed dozens of witnesses and officials.
• ▪An independent group of Israeli researchers known as the Dinah Project concluded that rape and sexual abuse were part of the October 7, 2023 attack.
• ▪The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel concluded that rape and sexual abuse were part of the October 7, 2023 attack.

Forensic evidence challenges

• ▪Cochav Elkayam-Levy circulated an account from the October 7, 2023 attack that later turned out to be false.

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