One of the hardest lessons of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacres is how difficult it is to document sexual violence during a mass atrocity, attorney Merav Israeli-Amarant told JNS on Thursday.
Israeli-Amarant is CEO of the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas Against Women, Children and Families.
She said first responders had been trying to save lives “under unimaginable conditions.”
“Chaotic scenes, fragmented evidence and the absence of forensic evidence are often the starting point,” Israeli-Amarant explained. Establishing the facts, she added, requires “painstaking work and honesty about what remains unknown.”
She called for a wider view than rape alone. “Sexual violence in mass atrocities can express intense hatred through extreme brutality, humiliation and sexual torture,” she said.
Guidelines must be developed with first responders, Israeli-Amarant said. “Their physical safety and emotional well-being must be central.
“We saw the heavy price many paid on October 7 and afterward,” she said.
A guide alone cannot resolve these difficulties, she added. Doing so requires “training, resources and sustained commitment.”
