When the mostly naked body of Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli attending the Nova electronic music festival, was loaded onto the back of a pick-up truck and paraded through the streets of Gaza, the act was filmed and broadcast in the early moments of Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7. It was perhaps, without Hamas yet realizing it, one of the first pieces of documentation attesting to the sexual violence committed that day. Louk's mother confirmed the young woman's death on October 30.
Louk's relatives are among the 56 families of victims and hostages represented by Israeli lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman before the French and German courts and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The atrocities of October 7, she said, constitute a "systematic and deliberate attack against a civilian population, with acts of murder, torture and mutilation against vulnerable people, the elderly, young children and babies."
The lawyer has filed a report with the ICC for sexual violence against Louk. "For the other victims, it's still too early. We know that living witnesses are emerging and will continue to do so. I'm getting indications from soldiers who want to talk about what they know, including rapes," she added.
Such complaints could become part of the ICC's years-long efforts to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon of sexual violence in wartime, which is not limited to rape. "It's crucial to understand all forms of sexual violence, such as forced nudity. We are cataloging all the cases that could be dealt with by the ICC. As for documenting them, it's difficult. For one known case, there may be 10 unknown ones, or even more," said Alix Vuillemin, executive director of the organization Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ). Sexual violence in wartime has not yet been fully defined, but it can include acts such as genital mutilation, humiliation, the desecration of corpses and photos distributed without consent.
Israeli organizations set up in the aftermath of the October 7 attack, other NGOs, and the Israeli government are trying to gather as much information on such crimes as possible. It is a difficult task. The scale of the attack, the ensuing fighting, and the hasty collection and burial of bodies have prevented proper documentation of the violence committed by Hamas. In several cases, forensic analysis could not be carried out due to the condition of the corpses, many of which were burnt.
But clues are emerging. In a Knesset hearing organized on December 4 by the Committee for the Advancement of Women & Gender Equality, Shlomit Landes, a deputy commissioner in the Israeli police, said: "Women have been sexually assaulted. We saw bodies hit on the head, in the center of the face and in sensitive places." Rami Shmuel, one of the Nova festival organizers, was quoted in a report by the Israeli organization Physicians for Human Rights, saying: "We found naked women, they were stripped, and their legs spread wide open."
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