Overview
- An Israeli civil commission released a detailed report concluding that Hamas and allied perpetrators used sexual and gender-based violence in a deliberate, organized way during the Oct. 7 attacks and afterward in captivity.
- Investigators identified 13 recurring patterns of abuse, including rape, sexual torture, shootings to the genitals, forced nudity, and postmortem desecration.
- The report documents attacks at homes, on public roads, at military sites, and at the Nova music festival, and it describes continued assaults during captivity against women and men, including inside Gaza hospitals.
- The commission says perpetrators recorded and shared violent assaults on social media and messaging apps to spread fear and magnify the impact of the attacks.
- Citing a secured archive of testimonies, videos, photos, and forensic reviews, the commission urges targeted sanctions, prosecutorial changes, and a specialized judicial panel, and it notes victims came from 52 countries.