The Association of Rape Crisis Centers of Israel (ARCCI) released a comprehensive report which explained that sexual crimes were committed “systematically and intentionally” during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
The report found that the Hamas attack on October 7 included violent rape, which usually involved threats and weapons. Additionally, many of those rapes occurred collectively, with collaboration among the perpetrators and sometimes conducted in front of witnesses, such as family members.
Fox News notes the rapists would sometimes engage in what the report called “sadistic practices,” which included binding and tying up the victims, mutilating genital organs – including severed breasts – and using weapons as part of the rape.
“The information and testimonies we provide clarify beyond any doubt what occurred, but significant parts of the story are still ahead of us,” Orit Sulitzeanu, executive director of the ARRCI, wrote in the opening remarks of the “Silent Cry” report. The ARCCI is an umbrella organization of Israel’s regional rape crisis centers.
“Since sexual assault typically involves delayed disclosure, especially during wartime, the picture presented in the report is still preliminary,” Sulitzeanu warned. “In the months and years to come, depending on the choices of the survivors, we may be able to bring a fuller story of the sexual assaults on Oct. 7 and thereafter to the fore.”
Fox News adds that the report cited a New York Times interview with four Nova festival rescue workers who described finding women’s bodies with spread legs, without underwear and with hands bound behind their backs.
These “sadistic practices” aimed to increase the victim’s humiliation, and in many cases the rapists would subsequently kill the victims.
“From the testimonies and information provided, it emerges that the sexual assaults committed in the Oct. 7 attack and thereafter were carried out systematically and deliberately,” the report concluded.
The report stressed the difficulty in obtaining evidence and testimony, noting that the process already proves difficult enough in times of peace and therefore faces even greater stumbling blocks in times of war.
