7th October 2023 marked the bloodiest day for Israel since its independence when Hamas-led terrorist outfits such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, unleashed a gruesome onslaught on the country.
Over 1,200 people, mostly civilians comprising of women, elderly, disabled and children, were killed and about 251 were abducted into Gaza by the assailants who targeted homes, roads, shelters, communities, military bases, security installations and a music festival. The events were captured and transmitted to the world with the purpose of glorification.
Israelis, irrespective of their age or gender, endured unprecedented sexual violence at the hands of the terrorists. The distressing testimonies have been regularly shared by the victims, witnesses and various accounts to the shock of the global community. Israeli non-profit organisation, “The Civil Commission” released a similar 300-page report, “Silenced No More,” featuring tagline “Sexual Terror Unveiled: The Untold Atrocities of October 7 and Against Hostages in Captivity” on 12th May (Tuesday).
The unending horrors of sexual violence, derogation and severe violations
Sexual and gender-based violence was systemic, pervasive and crucial to the assault and its aftermath, based on the findings of a 2-year independent inquiry by the commission. Hamas and its allies repeatedly used sexual abuse and torture against victims in many locations and stages of the attack, including their kidnapping, transfer and incarceration. Excessive cruelty and severe human suffering were characteristics of these crimes, which were committed in ways intended to frighten and demean them.
Original witness and survivor testimony, interviews, photos, videos, government papers and other primary materials from the attack sites had been employed for basis of the conclusion. “Data analysis conducted by the commission reveals that the victims represented 52 different nationalities, underscoring the international scope of the crimes and their impact,” the report read. Foreign or dual Israeli and foreign nationals were a substantial portion of the persons held in Gaza.
It highlighted, “Through systematic cross-referencing of this material and detailed analysis of the modus operandi of the perpetrators, the commission identified 13 recurring patterns of sexual and gender-based violence committed across multiple locations. The repetition of these patterns demonstrates that the crimes were not isolated acts of brutality but formed part of a broader operational method used during the attack and its aftermath.”
The probe also revealed that the terrorists used visibility and digital distribution, including sexualised content, as weapons in the attack. They misused social media and the personal online profiles of the victims to circulate footage of assault, humiliation and murder. Family members first found out about their loved one’s fate through pictures or videos that the attackers shared in multiple instances.
Terrorists sported GoPros and body-worn cameras or made sure that their acts were captured and publicised by others. “Across all sites, these videos documented armed groups and Palestinian civilians celebrating the attacks, appearing joyful and euphoric,” the report underscored. This intentional use of digital media converted violent crimes into psychological warfare instruments aimed not only at victims but also at families and society as a whole.
A calculated campaign of sexual terror aimed at punishing, degrading and dehumanising the victims persisted after they were dragged to the Gaza Strip. Women and men, including the very young and the senior citizens were exposed to perpetual sexual violence, threats of rape humiliation and psychological horror. Families were split up and basic medical treatment was withheld while the bodies and minds of these prisoners were manipulated into weapons for propaganda and coercion.
The report outlined that these acts were “central” to the attack. It conveyed, “Women and girls, and, in many cases, men and boys, were subjected to rape, sexualised torture, mutilation, forced nudity, and desecration of bodies. Parents were murdered in front of their children, siblings assaulted in front of one another, victims stripped, violated, filmed and displayed. These were not crimes of passion: they were coordinated and orchestrated to exacerbate the cruelty of crimes that are sexual in nature.”
Family members pushed into sexual acts, even the deceased not spared: A chronicle of continual dread faced by the victims
The report mentioned, “Hamas and its collaborators used sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) deliberately and systematically as an inherent part of a wider strategy of the attack, primarily targeting women and hostages, while minors were also subjected to grave forms of such violence and abuse.” The people were put through these gut-wrenching ordeals at different places even in the presence of their families by the jihadis.
Their pain and suffering were maximised through sexual torture. “Victims endured brutal acts, including burning, mutilation, rape, restraining, forced insertion of objects into the genitalia, shootings to the faces and genital area, killings and abuses in front of family members and executions. Many victims were found handcuffed, bound or otherwise physically restrained. Extreme forms of SGBV continued against hostages in captivity for prolonged periods, inflicted on both women and men,” the investigation discovered.
Furthermore, individuals who witnessed these acts and those who survived sustained serious, long-lasting psychological and physical damage. The armed groups committed rape, gang rape, other sexual assaults, torture, including burning and mutilation, as well as purposeful shootings to the head, face and genital area. Executions and killings were either carried out in tandem with or after SGBV. There were postmortem sexual abuse, body degradation and humiliation.
“Forced nudity and exposure. Handcuffing, binding and restraint of victims. Public displaying and parading of women and children. Abduction of mothers and children. SGBV inflicted in the presence or near vicinity of family members. Filming and digital dissemination of SGBV, including use of social media to document, glorify and amplify the atrocities. Threats of forced marriage. Rape and other forms of sexual violence against boys and men,” the report stated.
SGBV was wilfully perpetuated against blood relations, including a particular case where family members were subjugated to indulge in sexual acts with one another. The report emphasised, “Other documented cases include, inter alia, family members being sexually assaulted or humiliated in each other’s presence. The weaponisation of familial bonds maximised the pain and suffering of victims and terrorised their families. This pattern was particularly evident during Hamas captivity.”
The extremists recorded themselves on camera and uploaded visuals of themselves beating, shaming, abducting, slaughtering women, children and entire families alongside desecrating bodies. They displayed women and their corpses as war booty. Some clips showed terrorists and Gazan people rejoicing over desecrated remains.
Additionally, footage portrayed dead bodies that were brutalised and burnt. “Hamas and its collaborators further circulated footage of injured women and girls, and elderly women being violently humiliated and abducted. Many of these victims were taken in their sleepwear due to the early-morning timing of the attack, further heightening their vulnerability,” the report conveyed.
It added, “The digital abuse of hostages continued for many months after 7th October. Videos and images filmed by Hamas during captivity, show hostages being tormented, abused, taunted or humiliated on camera.” The report had a statement from a Nova music festival survivor who expressed, “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,” illustrating the extent of the depravity and violence.
“I saw them raping her. While they were raping her, we heard her screaming. Then they murdered her and then they raped her again, even after she was no longer moving. I saw them raping her,” revealed Raz Cohen.
The savage strike that shook the Jewish state: A deed motivated by religious animosity
Two pregnant women, 28-year-old Nitzan Rahum and 23-year-old S. Abu-Rashed were among the initial targets. The latter managed to survive while her baby perished as did Rahum and her unborn child. Testimonies and witness descriptions of sexual assaults promptly surfaced following the assault.
“From the earliest days, reports from survivors, first responders, medical experts, and morgue staff indicated that the attacks had a marked gendered dimension. For many victims, these crimes ended in death. In numerous cases, victims were killed during or after the assaults, and their bodies were recovered mutilated, burned and desecrated, in ways consistent with patterns of sexualised violence of exceptional cruelty,” the report pointed out.
It recounted the occurrence regrading “22-year-old Shani Louk lying face down, partially naked, visibly injured, and motionless in the back of a pickup truck, as she was paraded through the streets of Gaza, surrounded by armed perpetrators and civilians, who are seen cheering and spitting on her body.”
In the months that succeeded the attack, Hamas dropped countless videos exhibiting innocent detainees pleading for their life or showcasing corpses. They made direct contact with family members of the victims in certain situations, aggravating their anguish. These actions extended and amplified the effects of the terror hit, adding to the pain and trauma.
“Many times, these beautiful young women were shot in the eye, disfiguring their faces. They didn’t die from that because they were killed with a bullet to the heart.” voiced Sharon Laufer who prepared the bodies for the last rites.
The report cited assessments drawn by the United Nations, underlining the gravity of the crimes, including sexual abuse and violence executed by the terrorists. It disclosed that Hamas was added to the UN Secretary-General’s blacklist in August 2025, which identifies parties credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for systematic rape and other types of sexual violence during times of armed conflict.
The report noted, “Being placed on this list signifies that the UN has also verified substantial evidence of such violations perpetrated by Hamas during the 7th of October attacks and against hostages in captivity.”
The commission examined an assortment of tactical manuals, notebooks, checklists, maps, phrasebooks, and operational resources that guided abductors on how to control victims, penetrate civilian areas and issue directives in Hebrew. These materials include overt calls for violence and hatred that is structured by religion.
“These materials further include Arabic-to-Hebrew phrase lists with imperatives and humiliating commands (for example, commanding victims to take off your pants or take your clothes off, lie down, spread your legs) as well as kits containing zip ties and other materials to physically restrain victims,” the report highlighted.
“These ideological materials contained an underlying dehumanising narrative against the Jewish people and Israeli civilians, including women, children and the elderly, who were represented in some texts and statements as legitimate objects of violence,” it added in compliance with the charter of Hamas, which endorses violence against the Jewish community.
The massacre and vile acts were not only filmed but were also exalted with religious expressions and fervor. “Civilian property in the kibbutzim was also defaced with religious graffiti glorifying the attacks. For example, the Civil Commission documented several homes in Be’eri bearing inscriptions in Arabic (such as this is one of God’s days and God is great),” the report stated.
The victims and witnesses narrate the tale of Islamist terror
A witness who was at Nova music festival sought cover in the caravan together with 7 others during the attack. She reported hearing 3 acts of rapes emanating from 3 distinct places close to her hiding place. She was an eyewitness to the sight, including the mutilated condition and position of the bodies seen in the wake of the incident.
“I don’t know what regular rape is, but what was heard there was not that. There was laughter. There were jokes. They were passing them from one to another. It was done for fun. They were celebrating. They were really, really celebrating with this,” she expressed. They passed around the screaming victims and then shot them dead.
“Another one was that I heard someone screaming, ‘Don’t touch her, don’t do this,’ and then they apparently raped his girlfriend in front of his eyes,” she added after which the couple met the same fate.
“There wasn’t a single body that just died normally. Every single one had gone through torture. People were tied and abused. You can see they couldn’t respond. There were some who had a gunshot wound to the back of the head and were tied. Women tied with their hands behind their backs. And it was evident that they had been sexually harmed. Very evident. From the fact that they had no underwear. From injuries in the lower areas. From wounds in those areas, blood and cuts. There was one woman, it looked as though her entire lower body had exploded,” she reflected on the ghastly scene she encountered after her rescue. The same was confirmed by another witness who was inside the caravan with her.
A male shared a similar experience. Furthermore, he was also gang raped and tortured at the venue by at least 5 radicals. His testimony had been proven by a polygraph test. “We went through abuse of every kind. They spat in our faces, humiliated us, said things about Jews. At one point, I was alone with my head on the ground. At first, I resisted, until I was hit in the head so hard that I felt I lost myself, and the more I resisted, the harder they beat me. They injured my genitalia. I was beaten with a belt. They also laughed at me. One of them took out a knife and started laughing about different things. I told him I was sorry and begged him to leave me alone. I don’t know what they took before they did this, they were like animals,” he remembered.
The pressed a gun to his head and issued death threats along with warnings of genital amputation. The inhumanity continued until he lost consciousness and was unable to recollect what had happened to him. He also heard crying women being gang raped in the background.
An individual observed a gang rape at the site and stated, “Someone violated her and shot her in the head while still inside her.” The witness asserted to have seen another attacker carrying the nude body of a second female over his shoulder. A person similarly saw “a beautiful woman with the face of an angel and 8 or 10 fighters beating and raping her.” He highlighted that she pleaded, “Stop it, already, I am going to die anyway from what you are doing, just kill me,” but they just laugh and eventually shot her in the head.
The eyewitnesses reported that women were continuously begging and screaming for help as they were brutally raped, injured and subsequently murdered, including beheaded, by the terrorists. A survivor who was held captive revealed, “All of those who were brutally kidnapped to the tunnels of hell in Gaza. I was shot at point-blank range when my arm almost detached from my body, hanging and bleeding. All around me, I heard screams of people being raped and murdered.”
“I remember seeing the Jeep, and there was the body of a woman wearing a black dress. She had a bullet in her cheek and she was frozen in that position. Her dress was pulled up, and she wasn’t wearing underwear, not because it burned, because there was no trace. They removed her underwear. Her legs were spread. Her genitals were exposed. Her husband’s body was on the other side of the car, apparently it was her husband. I didn’t know that at the time. There was another body that was just ash. It didn’t even look like a human being anymore,” expressed another witness who was trying to save a friend.
“They dragged people out of cars. They abused the bodies at the most extreme levels. They cut people with construction hoes. Tools are in their bodies. We drive maybe another 50 meters. There are trees on both sides. Everything is burned. Bodies are thrown along the side of the road. A lot of equipment, so much equipment,” pointed out another man.
The report noted, “Witnesses who were part of the Nova Music Festival staff similarly publicly reported encountering female victims found naked or partially naked, in some cases without underwear, including victims positioned with their legs spread and showing injuries or mutilation to the groin area.” Corpses were located severed in half, viciously dismembered, including intimate parts and in specific settings, stacked together and charred.
“Burned bodies, charred bodies, bodies in conditions, some mutilated, some scattered across the area. Burned-out cars to a degree you can’t even comprehend,” mentioned a first responder. The report outlined, “One volunteer described encountering cases involving the recovery of naked civilian bodies, including a female victim whose body showed signs of extreme physical destruction and a male victim found naked with indications suggesting prolonged suffering and possible abuse prior to death.”
The witnesses shared how the terrorists ruthlessly persecuted, harmed and tortured their targets. A number of visuals were evaluated and examined by the commission and professionals, which depicted the brutality of that day, where weapons were likely inserted into the groin areas of the victims prior to executing them.
The report stressed that “the dynamics of sexual violence at the Nova site are evident throughout the testimonies and visual materials reviewed: women were targeted in ways that were both gender-specific and exceptionally brutal, including extreme sexual violence, mutilation and disfigurement, indicating that they were attacked because they were women and that SGBV was an integral component of the attacks. The documentation further indicates that male victims were also subjected to sexual violence and mutilation, including through acts of undressing and targeting of the genitalia that carried clear sexualized and emasculating dimensions, apparently to humiliate and punish victims.”
The extraordinary violence grips Israel
Multiple Palestinian civilians took part in the attack on Kibbutzims alongside armed terrorists, adding to the scale of carnage and devastation, according to testimonies, visual evidence and official data that the commission gathered and scrutinised.
A volunteer stated, “When we went inside, there was a hospital bed and a body. I understood that it was a woman. In the room were knives, scalpels, a hammer, an axe, screwdrivers, tools, tools from the household. All of those were embedded in the body. The body was completely mutilated,” after visiting Be’eri on 9th October.
“In this kibbutz, similarly to other locations, female victims were found fully or partially naked from the waist down with their hands tied behind their backs and shot. The mission team collected information from first responders who reported discovering bodies of women naked with their hands tied behind their backs and gunshot wounds to the head,” stated Special Representative’s report in relation to Kfar Aza.
It added, “While verification of sexual violence against these victims was not possible at this point, available circumstantial information, notably the recurring pattern of female victims found undressed, bound, and shot indicates that sexual violence, including potential sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, may have occurred.” People were also either fatally shot or abducted in the presence of their defenceless families.
UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict observed, “There are reasonable grounds to believe that sexual violence occurred in kibbutz Re’im, including rape. This included the rape of a woman outside of a bomb shelter at the entrance of kibbutz Re’im, which was corroborated by witness testimonies and digital material. The UN COI (Independent International Commission of Inquiry) also documented cases indicative of sexual violence perpetrated against women and men in several kibbutzim.”
Moreover, videos that Hamas released after its assault on Kibbutz Nahal Oz represented the abuse of a young male international student and his partially naked body.
Grim scenes continue to unfold
Israeli military installations were also targeted even although civilians and their communities were the main targets. “The invasion of military bases was marked by extreme forms of violence, including sexual torture, burning and desecration of bodies, mutilation, genital mutilation and decapitation,” the report mentioned. It was also confirmed through video recordings and other materials by the commission.
“As in other attack sites, most victims of SGBV at these locations were killed. However, evidence drawn from Hamas’s own documentation, as well as testimonies from survivors, released hostages, and other witnesses, indicates that incidents of SGBV occurred at these sites, against both men and women,” it conveyed.
According to testimonies, witnesses detected horrifying scenes, such as female victims with their faces deliberately distorted and maimed, bodies covered in blood and women shot in their genital areas. “Testimonies further described the condition of the bodies of female soldiers when they were received at morgues, specifically reiterating these observations and additionally noting that their clothing and pajamas were torn to shreds, and that the bodies bore injuries indicative of extreme forms of violence inflicted both prior to death and post-mortem,” the report noted.
An officer who was hiding outside the building reported to have heard someone being raped. She later spotted a woman soldier’s nude body and covered her after moving outside. She even asserted to have seen a man’s body with his penis mutilated.
“Another video reported by the UN Commission of Inquiry is described showing six perpetrators standing beside a wall. Four bodies are shown on the floor of the shelter. One female body is partially blurred and appears to have been covered with a piece of white sheet. Despite the blurring, the lower part of the body appears to be undressed. In another video, the perpetrators scream ‘God is great’ while standing over the same woman,” the report stated.
It noted that an essential official point of reference for comprehending the extent and character of the violence at the Nahal Oz military camp had been provided by the conclusions of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
“Her forensic review underscores both the scale of the killings and the extreme brutality inflicted upon the victims, including destructive burn damage and injuries to intimate body parts while also highlighting limitations in identifying patterns of sexual mutilation due to the condition of many of the bodies,” the report added.
On the other hand, witnesses disclosed, “Female victims arrived dressed in blood-soaked, shredded clothing or were partially naked, wearing only underwear that was often heavily stained with blood,” and further conveyed that “female soldiers who were shot in the crotch, intimate parts, vagina or shot in a breast. This seemed to be systematic genital mutilation of a group of victims.”
A witness admitted having encountered bodies of women personnel with evidence of sexual violence, including many with groin cuts and “described seeing bodies showing indications of sexual abuse, including bone fractures, inserted items, as well as bodies with amputated genitals.”
It was mentioned that “first responders also reported bodies of women found undressed and isolated in separate rooms, showing signs of physical abuse and sexual violence.” UN Commission of Inquiry also documented similar accounts revealed by witnesses. A person unveiled, “The women were brutalised and it was clear what had happened. They were isolated, stripped, and in positions of surrender when we found them.”
Pathologists noted that accelerants could have been used to put the genitalia on fire as many bodies, majority females, had “precise burnings” to their private area.
The extreme sexual abuse experienced by hostages, including minors, after their abduction
According to the commission’s examination into the treatment of hostages detained in Gaza, SGBV was committed against them in a number of different locations. Testimonies, medical assessments and open-source research show that these violations occurred for the whole of the captivity, from the first days after the kidnappings until they were freed or killed.
Nearly all of the hostages who were kidnapped on 7th October and ultimately released attested to having either witnessed or experienced SGBV during their captivity. Statements from captives revealed that sexual assaults took place in homes, tunnels, and other facilities that were utilised as holding places on a regular and organised basis.
A widespread fear of sexual violence, reinforced by sexualised torture, humiliation, threats and coercive control, as well as extreme deprivation and cruel treatment were also mentioned by them.
A victim stated, “They brought me into a room. At the entrance to the room there were two men standing there with guns. One man simply starts cutting off all my clothes. One man takes off my shoes, another takes off my earrings, and another removes my jewellery from my body. Around 15 people who are touching me, like, all at once, until it gets to the point where they cut off all my clothes. And then I was lying there naked, completely naked. It felt like an out-of-body experience, like I was seeing everything from above.”
She was repeatedly sexually violated by her captors, told that she was presumed dead in Israel and would spend the rest of her life as a sex slave. Another victim who stayed 482 days in Gaza narrated similar traumatic experience. The report mentioned, “She further described enduring prolonged isolation, starvation, and physical abuse, explaining that the repeated assaults and conditions of captivity led her to attempt to take her own life on several occasions.”
“Male hostages were also subjected to sexual violence, sexual torture, and sexual humiliation in captivity,” the report mentioned. “Two returning hostages, minors, who were family members, reported that they were forced to perform sexual acts on one another. They were reportedly compelled by their captors to take off their clothes, and their captors then touched their private parts and whipped their genitalia,” it highlighted.
The report contained the chilling narratives of sexual violence and abuse perpetrated against the hostages by the terrorists. They were beaten to the extent of losing consciousness and these horrific acts were documented. It disclosed, “Several returning hostages explained that throughout their captivity, they and other captives were forbidden from crying or making sounds, and in some cases were instructed to smile and appear happy, even in the immediate aftermath of sexual abuse.”
Conclusion
The report is based on more than 10,000 photos and video clips of the attack along with greater than 430 official and informal interviews, testimonials, and meetings with survivors, witnesses, returned hostages, experts and family members. Both American tech executive and philanthropist Sheryl Sandberg, who has also raised awareness of sexual abuse by Hamas predators and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton endorsed the findings.
Chair of the commission, Cochav Elkayam-Levy pointed to the motivation behind the report and conveyed, “They filmed the victims to make sure that the world knew what was happening. We felt deeply obligated to expose everything. This was sexual terror in the most exceptional cruelty, and I think one important aspect of it was the digital documentation, the fact that the crimes were glorified,” while talking to The Jerusalem Post.
