Sexual violence was “widespread and systematic” during and after the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the authors of the Dinah Project report, released on Tuesday in Jerusalem.
Victims were found partially or fully naked, with their hands tied, often to structures like trees or poles. Evidence of gang rape followed by execution, genital mutilation and public humiliation was also found.
“The vast majority of those who were sexually assaulted were among the 1,166 who were murdered in the attack and therefore silenced forever,” according to the report.
It took more than 17 months for the first victim to recount her terrifying experiences, suggesting that “Given the process of healing from traumatic experience, we can expect that more information will surface in the future,” the report stated. However, it noted that “many of those who did survive are likely to be too traumatized to be able to recount their experience.”
The report, which spans over 84 pages, was based on testimonies from a Nova music festival rape survivor, 15 released hostages, 17 eyewitnesses or individuals who heard the attacks, 27 rescue personnel and numerous visual documentations, according to Hebrew-language outlet Ynet.
Sexual violence was recorded in at least six locations: the Nova music festival, Route 232, the Nahal Oz military base, Kibbutzim Re’im, Kibbutz Nir Oz and Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
Sexual assaults, including “forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sexual assaults, and threats of forced marriage,” also occurred during the captivity of the over 250 people the terrorists kidnapped to Gaza.
The report was formulated by professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Judge (ret.) Nava Ben-Or and Att. Col (res.) Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas.
As an expert who had investigated difficult cases of sexual violence throughout her career, Ben-Or told Ynet that “this is very different, because the phenomenon is very different. Sexual violence in conflict zones is fundamentally different from ‘ordinary’ sexual violence. It is not only directed at the victim—it is aimed at the entire community to which they belong.”
The intentional sexual violence of Hamas was a message that said, “We will attack what typically symbolizes life in human culture—and destroy it by desecrating that symbol, turning it into an emblem of death,” the retired judge went on to say.
She further stated that the purpose of the Dinah Project was twofold: Legally, the report can assist Israel in placing responsibility for these crimes even when the specific terrorists cannot be singled out, while internationally, the report demonstrates what truly happened on Oct. 7, 2023, so history cannot be distorted.
“Once we demonstrate that these acts are rooted in indoctrination driven by genocidal intent, blatant antisemitism and the complete dehumanization of the attacked side—it becomes very difficult to support those who try to portray Hamas terrorists as freedom fighters,” said Ben-Or. “Freedom fighters do not commit rape or sexually assault their victims,” she added.
The report was submitted on Tuesday to Michal Herzog, the wife of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, according to Ynet.
The report calls to “acknowledge the sexual violence that occurred on Oct. 7 as crimes against humanity, to hold the perpetrators accountable, and to ensure that the tactical use of sexual violence by Hamas as a weapon of war receives the international condemnation and response it demands.”
The Dinah Project is the most comprehensive documentation of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack to date.
It aims “to counter denial, misinformation and global silence” regarding what researchers describe as “one of the most under-reported dimensions of the attacks.”
The report states its mission is “to set the historical record straight: Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war.”
