By TIA GOLDENBERG
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An Israeli report released Tuesday said that Hamas used sexual violence as a “tactical weapon of war” in its Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, building on other investigations by international and Israeli rights groups and the United Nations.
The report by the Dinah Project, a team of legal and gender experts, based its findings on survivor and witness testimonies, accounts from first responders, and forensic, visual and audio evidence. It called for a shift in how conflict-related sexual violence is prosecuted, saying Hamas silenced its victims by killing them, robbing investigators of key evidence.
“Most victims were permanently silenced — either murdered during or after the assaults or remain too traumatized to talk — creating unique evidentiary challenges,” the report said, calling for a more tailored legal approach.
The report comes as Israel and Hamas are negotiating a ceasefire for the 21-month war in Gaza, which began with the surprise cross-border raid. The deal would pause the fighting in the Palestinian territory and release some of the remaining 50 hostages, more than half whom are said to be dead.
Accounts of sexual violence from hostages and witnesses
The report said it relied on dozens of accounts, including from one survivor of attempted rape at a music festival, 15 returned hostages, 17 witnesses and multiple first responders.
In some cases, the Dinah Project carried out its own interviews, while in others it relied on publicly available testimony or published accounts.
Citing accounts in Israeli and international media, it said 15 former hostages either experienced or witnessed some form of sexual assault which included physical sexual violence, forced nudity, verbal sexual harassment and threats of forced marriage. Two male hostages said they faced forced nudity and physical abuse when naked.
The report said witness accounts indicated at least 15 separate cases of sexual assault, including at least four instances of gang rape.
The report said its findings showed patterns in the assaults, including victims found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, evidence of gang rape followed by killing, genital mutilation and public humiliation, indicating they were intentionally used as a weapon of war.
Report builds on other accusations of sexual violence by Hamas
A Hamas official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hamas has previously denied claims that its forces carried out sexual violence on Oct. 7, 2023, when fighters stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage.
Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, and European Union.
In a report last year, the United Nations said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its attack.
In issuing arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders who were eventually killed by Israel, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said they bore responsibility for “rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity” during the Oct. 7 attack.
‘The feeling of being someone else’s property’
The report included testimony from more than a dozen returned hostages.
“In captivity, I went through hell: Hunger, thirst, loneliness,” said Ilana Gritzewsky, who was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and held hostage for 55 days, at an event in Jerusalem marking the publication of the report. “Physical and psychological torture. My body ached. My bones were broken. But the humiliation, the fear, the feeling of being someone else’s property — that is the pain that never leaves.”
Gritzewsky said after passing out during her kidnapping, she awoke in Gaza, half undressed, surrounded by militants who pointed their weapons at her while groping her. “Today — almost two years later — people still ask if it really happened. If they really raped, burned, murdered, kidnapped. If they really hurt women. If men were really harmed too. So I tell you — yes. It happened. And it’s still happening.”
Gritzewsky has been an outspoken campaigner for her boyfriend, Matan Zangauker, who was also kidnapped and has been held hostage in Gaza for 21 months.
Report urges a new approach
The report recommended that conflict-related sexual violence should be treated differently from regular sexual crimes to allow for evidence that doesn’t primarily rely on testimony from victims, to account for “the systematic silencing of victims.”
It called for different forms of evidence to be admitted in any prosecution and for joint criminal responsibility to be applied to all participants in the attack, rather than trying to link individual perpetrators to specific acts and victims.
This approach would create “a pathway to justice for victims of the Oct. 7 attack and potentially for victims in other conflict zones,” the report said.
“We must learn from past experience and the understanding that we, as Israeli women, must shout our voices for those who can no longer shout, and we must bring them justice,” said Michal Herzog, the first Lady of Israel.
Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel contributed to this report.