Hamas and its allies committed “systematic, widespread” sexual violence during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and against hostages they took back to Gaza, according to a report released Tuesday by an independent Israeli investigative commission.
The 300-page report by the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children builds on prior investigations, including by the UN, to determine the full scale of sexual violence perpetrated during the assault and against the hostages during the ensuing war in the Gaza Strip.
“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,” the body, created in November 2023 by an Israeli legal expert, wrote in its report.
“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.
“These crimes were marked by extreme cruelty and profound human suffering, often inflicted in ways designed to amplify terror and humiliation.”
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Investigators said they used material from a wide range of locations, including residential communities, the Nova music festival grounds and surrounding areas, roads and shelters, military installations, and facilities used to identify victims’ bodies.
“The report draws on extensive factual documentation, including original filmed survivor and witness testimonies, interviews, photographs, videos, official records, and other primary materials from the attack sites,” the report said.
The report came as The New York Times published an investigation into what it said was “widespread” sexual violence by Israeli prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators against Palestinian detainees – which was strongly rejected by Israel.
Independent Israeli report accuses Hamas of ‘systematic’ sexual violence during October 7 attacks
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‘Profound trauma’
The panel investigating crimes committed during Hamas’s October 7 assault said it systematically reviewed more than 10,000 photographs and video segments of the attack, amounting to more than 1,800 cumulative hours of analysis of visuals.
Overall, the commission said it conducted more than 430 formal and informal interviews, testimonial sessions, and meetings with survivors, witnesses, returned hostages, experts and family members.
“Sexualised torture persisted during captivity in Gaza for prolonged periods. In some cases, the sexual and gender-based abuse of hostages continued for months,” it said.
“Our conclusion is unequivocal: sexual and gender-based violence formed a central component of the October 7th attack and of hostages’ captivity,” the commission said in the report.
“The Civil Commission’s findings conclude that these crimes constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal acts under international law.”
Hamas had not provided a response to the report’s findings by late afternoon on Tuesday, but the Palestinian Islamist movement has repeatedly denied the accusations since 2023.
The commission said that many victims of these crimes have not survived to testify.
“Others continue to endure profound trauma,” it said, adding its work “sought to ensure that the suffering endured by the victims will not be denied, erased, or forgotten”.
‘Clear and convincing’
Hamas’s surprise attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Militants also took 251 people hostage on that day, including 44 who were already dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has devastated the Gaza Strip – home to 2.2 million inhabitants – and claimed the lives of more than 72,000 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
Of the 207 hostages taken alive, 41 died or were killed during captivity.
The last surviving hostages were released in October 2025 under the terms of a fragile ceasefire that came into effect that month under sustained pressure from the United States.
Israel has long accused the United Nations and major international human rights organisations of having turned a blind eye to the sexual violence committed on October 7, and of being slow to condemn it.
In March 2024, the UN secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict published a report following a mission to Israel.
“Based on the first-hand accounts of released hostages, the mission team received clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualised torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment occurred against some women and children during their time in captivity,” Pramila Patten’s report said.
The New York Times report into sexual abuse against Palestinians described “a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children”.
It said “there is no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes” but cited a United Nations report released last March that describes sexual violence as one of Israel’s “standard operating procedures”.
Israel’s foreign ministry slammed the Times report as being part of “a false and well-orchestrated anti-Israel campaign”.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
This story originally appeared on France24
