Hamas waged a widespread campaign of rape during the Oct. 7 massacre — including sexual torture designed to destroy entire families — and in the months following, a horrific two-year investigation released Tuesday concluded.
The terror group left behind a trail of evidence of its horrifying acts, with the Israeli nonprofit Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children unearthing over 10,000 photos and nearly 2,000 hours of footage of the atrocities during its investigation.
Over 430 witnesses were also interviewed, who told terrifying tales of terrorists raping and mutilating women both alive and dead, humiliating them sexually, and executing women while violating them and then parading their bodies as trophies.
“The men pulled a woman from the vehicle … forcibly removed her clothing, and raped her … They repeatedly stabbed her, killing her … They continued to rape her after her death,” Nova music festival survivor Raz Cohen told the commission.
“You hear it. It’s right next to you. You hear the screams,” said another survivor, Darin Komarov. “And then you hear silence.”
Nearly 2,000 people were killed when Hamas swarmed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with more than 250 people taken as hostages into the Gaza Strip.
Much of the sexual carnage happened during the massacres near the Gaza border, but it continued across the grueling months as hostages were held captive in hideaways and tunnels within the cities of Gaza, according to the commission.
“It’s these little things that break you. When you have no control over your body and no control over how to take care of your body,” said 17-year-old hostage Agam Goldstein, who endured over a month of captivity before being released.
Men, boys and the elderly were also victims of rape and other sex crimes at the hands of Hamas, according to the report.
Some of the worst crimes described by survivors were labeled “kinocidal sexual violence” — which the commission described as “crimes deliberately aimed at torturing and destroying the family as a cohesive social and emotional unit.”
That included young women being threatened with marriage to their captors — and, unspeakably, family members held captive together being forced to commit sexual acts on each other.
“These acts weaponize the deepest human bonds to maximize pain and psychological devastation,” the report read. “They exacerbate emotional distress and trauma beyond the initial acts and often create multigenerational trauma.”
Hamas’ behavior constituted war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide, the commission found, according to i24 News.
“The report reveals that sexual violence was a deliberate strategy, carried out with exceptional cruelty,” said commission founder Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy.
“For two years, we have listened to survivors and witnesses, painstakingly examined the evidence, and confronted material that is often beyond comprehension.”
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