Hamas was found to have deliberately perpetrated sexual violence against Israeli citizens as a weapon of war during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, according to a new report published by an Israeli legal group on Tuesday.
The Dinah Project’s report, called “A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond,” rebuts claims that Hamas terrorists did not commit sexual violence during the massacre. The Palestinian terrorist group has denied its involvement in sexual crimes on that day.
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Israeli victims were found “partially or fully naked with their hands tied, often to structures like trees or poles; evidence of gang rapes followed by execution; genital mutilation; and public humiliation,” the report states, corroborating previous reporting on Hamas’s sexual violence.
A March 2024 report compiled by Pramila Patten, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence in conflict, concluded it found “reasonable grounds” to believe there was a pattern of some victims, mostly women, who were raped or sexually assaulted by Hamas terrorists. The Dinah Project cited Patten’s findings.
The crimes also extended beyond Oct. 7 into captivity “with many returnees reporting forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sexual assaults and threats of forced marriage,” the report continues.
Among the victims were two now-freed male hostages who were subjected to “sexual humiliation, which included forced nudity and physical abuse when naked,” per the report.
The findings were drawn from eyewitness testimony in at least 17 separate incidents of sexual assault, accounts from first responders, forensic evidence, and audio and visual evidence.
The report deems sexual violence as a weapon of war, which amounts to a crime against humanity.
It was presented by the Dinah Project, a legal research initiative formed in the wake of Oct. 7 that raises awareness about sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas.
Former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky recounted the sexual humiliation she endured while in captivity.
“I remember that they hit me, and I screamed, and then there was darkness. When I woke up, I was half-naked, surrounded by terrorists,” the 31-year-old woman said on Tuesday when the report was presented.
“They beat me. I went through hell. My bones were broken, but that didn’t compare to the psychological pain I was put through,” she added. “Nobody should experience what I did.”
After spending 55 days in captivity, Gritzewsky was released during the first ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in late 2023. Her boyfriend, Matan Zangauker, remains in captivity 640 days since the massacre.
Gritzewsky called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to finalize a deal that ends Israel’s war with Hamas and returns the remaining 50 hostages.
Netanyahu is meeting with President Donald Trump and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to discuss a ceasefire deal and the release of hostages with Hamas, among other foreign policy issues.
Tuesday’s findings come after a March report released by the U.N. Human Rights Council accused Israel of “the systematic use of sexual, reproductive, and other gender-based violence” against Palestinian women and children in Gaza. Netanyahu rejected the previous report, casting the U.N. body as an “anti-Israel circus” that perpetuates antisemitism and supports terrorism.