Hamas employed systematic rape and sexual violence as deliberate weapons of war from the October 7 massacre onward, according to a comprehensive new report delivered Tuesday to First Lady Michal Herzog by Project Dina. This 18-month study constitutes the most thorough examination to date of sexual crimes during the October 7 attack, introducing groundbreaking legal and evidentiary frameworks that recognize systematic sexual violence as warfare, supported by extensive findings compiled from dozens of reports, databases and sources.
The document unequivocally demonstrates that Hamas weaponized sexual violence as a combat strategy – integral to a comprehensive campaign of terror, collective degradation and dehumanization targeting Israeli society.
Research reveals systematic patterns of coordinated sexual assaults executed by Hamas terrorists – occurring both at massacre locations and during captivity. Distinguishing itself from previous analyses published since the attack, this report documents evidence of collective rape, public degradation, forced exposure, genital mutilation and targeted shooting of intimate body regions. Returned hostages described recurring sexual assaults, "forced marriage" threats, and systematic attempts to obliterate sexual identity – affecting male victims as well. Investigators also documented repeated discoveries of partially naked female corpses, restrained and sometimes attached to structures and trees, corroborated by reports from military identification teams at the Shura base.
Drawing upon established international and Israeli legal doctrines, the report's researchers advocate implementing a crucial legal principle establishing joint criminal responsibility for all attack participants, regardless of their direct involvement in sexual violence – based on their knowledge, potential awareness, or participation in deploying sexual violence during the assault. The study promotes applying "joint responsibility in genocidal events" doctrine, acknowledging that every participant in the attack bears accountability for these acts, whether through direct action, contribution, awareness, or complicity through silence.
During the presentation, researchers outlined their planned advocacy efforts, including urging Israel's government and judicial system to implement joint responsibility doctrine and prosecute operatives for sexual crimes as crimes against humanity; petitioning the UN secretary-general to designate Hamas on the blacklist of organizations employing sexual violence as combat tactics, consistent with Security Council resolutions 1820 and 1960; creating evidentiary infrastructure applicable internationally – encompassing International Criminal Court proceedings in The Hague and UN human rights institutions; advocating for developing innovative legal protocols addressing sexual violence in armed conflicts – incorporating specialized evidence collection procedures, circumstantial evidence utilization, and acknowledgment of community-wide harm resulting from weaponized sexual violence.
First Lady Michal Herzog, who received the report on Tuesday, remarked, "This report presents truth in its raw form – devastating, agonizing, yet essential and imperative. Speaking for all victims, we remain committed to continuing this fight until their voices resonate globally and justice prevails. I absorbed this report with profound heartbreak – as a woman, mother, and Israeli. This document, anchored in unprecedented legal foundations, deserves presentation on every international platform. It counters persistent distortions of silence, denial and deflection – substituting facts, evidence and unambiguous demands for recognizing sexual violence as crimes against humanity while ensuring accountability for perpetrators."
Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari explained, "This represents breakthrough research, distinguished not merely by its comprehensive findings – which existed but required proper analysis and synthesis – but through the judicial instruments it offers the legal community. Our objective demonstrates how to prosecute leadership and perpetrators despite lacking direct evidence against individual participants. We declare unequivocally that sexual violence during conflict constitutes weaponry. It operates neither randomly nor targets solely individuals, nor occurs without deliberate authorization from command structures. The international community must finally address this phenomenon accordingly."
Herzog emphasized, "This report delivers unvarnished truth – jarring, painful, yet indispensable. Representing all victims, we pledge continued advocacy until their voices achieve universal recognition and justice materializes."
Survivor Ilana Gritzewsky addressed the report's release during the Presidential Residence event. "They abducted us. I recall weapons targeting me. I remember foreign hands violating me. I remember screaming – then blackness. Upon awakening, I found myself half-clothed. Encircled by terrorists. They assaulted me, violated me. I remained unaware of what transpired during those missing minutes – yet my spirit understood immediately that nothing would remain unchanged.
"Captivity became hell. Starvation, dehydration, isolation. Physical and psychological torment. My body ached. My bones fractured. However, the degradation, terror, and sensation of becoming another's possession – that represents enduring agony. Today, nearly two years afterward, questions persist whether these events actually occurred. Whether systematic rape, burning, murder, and abduction truly happened. Whether women genuinely suffered harm. Whether men experienced assault.
"Therefore I confirm – yes. These events occurred and continue occurring. Hostages remain captive. Men among them. A woman among them. Including my Matan. I cannot know their current treatment, but I understand what they inflicted upon me. I comprehend their complete capabilities."
"Each morning I awaken fearing he currently endures what I experienced. Nothing surpasses that anguish. I appear today representing every woman unable to speak. For men who suffered and suffocate in silence. For murder victims – whose voices will never again be heard. For my Matan and 49 additional hostages – still imprisoned in Gaza by identical individuals who harmed me. My release occurred on day 55. Departing, I promised – to fight for everyone remaining. Every day, every moment dedicated to struggle until universal return. Today, awakening, 641 days had elapsed. 641 nightmare days for 49 brothers and one sister. My heart, my body, never achieved freedom from them momentarily."
