Hamas and its allies committed "systematic, widespread" sexual violence, torture and rape during and after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, an independent Israeli investigative commission said in a report released on Tuesday.
“Across multiple locations and phases of the assault, including during abduction, transfer, and captivity, Hamas and its collaborators deployed recurring tactics of sexual abuse and torture against victims,” the report said.
“Following a two-year independent investigation, the Civil Commission concludes that sexual and gender-based violence was systematic, widespread, and integral to the October 7th attacks and their aftermath,” it added.
The findings were detailed in a 300-page report released by the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children, an independent body established in November 2023 by Israeli legal experts.
The commission said its investigation was based on more than 430 interviews with survivors, witnesses, returned hostages, medical experts, first responders and family members.
Researchers also reviewed more than 10,000 photographs and video segments, amounting to over 1,800 hours of visual analysis.
Investigators examined material collected from residential communities, the Nova music festival grounds, roads, shelters, military bases and victim identification centres.
"The most important finding is the fact that the sexual violence on October 7 and against hostages in captivity has been a calculated strategy by Hamas," lead author and human rights expert Cochav Elkayam-Levy told CNN.
The report documented repeated patterns of abuse, including rape, gang rape, forced nudity, sexual torture and mutilation of bodies. It also alleged that some acts of violence were filmed and circulated.
Among the cases cited was testimony involving two minors who said they were sexually abused and forced by captors to perform sexual acts on each other while being held hostage in Gaza.
The report also detailed at least three alleged incidents of rape at the Nova music festival. A survivor quoted in the report said, “I heard one rape where they were passing her around. She was probably injured, judging by her screams — screams you have never heard anywhere.”
“Sexual violence is meant to torture, humiliate. They mutilated their intimate organs, they burned their genital areas, creating such pain and suffering that will be remembered for generations to come,” Elkayam-Levy told CNN.
According to the commission, “Sexualised torture persisted during captivity in Gaza for prolonged periods. In some cases, the sexual and gender-based abuse of hostages continued for months.”
“Our conclusion is unequivocal, sexual and gender-based violence formed a central component of the October 7th attack and of hostages' captivity," the report stated.
“The Civil Commission's findings conclude that these crimes constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal acts under international law," it added.
Elkayam-Levy said the aim of the report and its digital archive was to ensure the victims’ suffering could not be “denied, erased, or forgotten”.
“These men and women, victims of sexual violence, have been silenced in the worst and cruellest way possible. Hopefully, what we did is to put an end to this,” she said.
The findings build on a March 2024 investigation led by UN special representative Pramila Patten, which found “reasonable grounds to believe” that rape had occurred during the October 7 attacks and cited “clear and convincing” evidence of sexual violence against hostages.
Hamas has repeatedly denied the allegations.
The October 7 attack killed 1,221 people in Israel, most of them civilians, and saw 251 people taken hostage. Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 72,000 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the UN considers reliable.
