Israel released an initial report Wednesday into sexual violence committed by Hamas during the October 7 terror attack.
The report, compiled by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI), was carefully compiled from eyewitness testimonies and the available forensic evidence. As Breitbart News reported in November, accusations of rape, sexual assault, and other acts of sexual violence were initially difficult to compile because Israeli authorities were focused on stopping the Hamas attack.
However, in the weeks that followed, eyewitnesses began to come forward and to describe sexual violence, much of it deeply sadistic, against both women and men, both during the October 7 attack and against Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The new report describes horrific atrocities, including gang rape; the mutilation of female and male genitals; the physical and psychological torture of rape victims; and evidence that relatives and friends of victims were forced to watch these sexual assaults.
The report states:
Hamas’s attack included violent acts of rape, accompanied by threats with weapons, and in some cases targeted towards injured women. Many of the rapes were carried out as a group, with the participation of violent terrorists. Often, the rape was perpetrated in front of an audience – partners, family, or friends – in a manner intended to increase the pain and humiliation of all present. Hamas terrorists hunted young women and men who fled the Nova festival, and according to testimonies, dragged them by their hair amid screams. The actions targeted women, girls, and men. In most cases, the victims were killed after or even during the rape.
A series of testimonies, interviews, and additional sources attest that Hamas terrorists employed sadistic practices aimed at intensifying the degree of humiliation and terror inherent in sexual violence. Many of the bodies of sexual crime victims were found bound and shackled. The genitals of both women and men were brutally mutilated, and sometimes weapons were inserted into them. The terrorists did not stop at shooting; they also cut and mutilated sexual organs and other body parts with knives.
This report is the result of an initial examination of all the public and classified information, interviews, and testimonies that can be revealed at this time, which will likely increase with time. The report clearly demonstrates that sexual abuse was not an isolated incident or sporadic cases but rather a clear operational strategy.
The report notes that many victims who survived, especially male victims, may be reluctant to come forward with their stories, and that evidence of past and ongoing crimes is still being collected.
The report has been presented to the United Nations.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
