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Horrific New Evidence Revealed of Hamas’ Systematic Sexual Violence on Oct. 7
The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Oct. 12, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
Warning: This story contains graphic details about sexual violence, including rape and torture, carried out during Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel.
A major investigation has revealed harrowing new details about the systematic use of sexual violence and torture against dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers by Hamas terrorists on the morning of Oct. 7.
The New York Times report, which took over two months to compile, relies on video footage, photographs, GPS data, and interviews with more than 150 people including soldiers, witnesses, survivors, and volunteer medics. It documents instances of gang rape, genital mutilation, and other brutal abuses of women and young girls.
Israeli soldiers and medics found over 30 bodies of women and girls near the site of the Supernova music festival massacre who had signs of abuse in their genital areas, according to the investigation.
The Times said it had identified at least seven locations where women and children appear to have been sexually tortured, including multiple kibbutzim such as Kfar Aza and Be’eri.
Times‘ reporters viewed images showing a woman with nails drilled into her thighs and groin areas and of female soldiers at an overrun military base who appeared to have been shot in their vaginas.
Two therapists who spoke with the Times said a woman who survived the music festival massacre — in which over 300 people were murdered and dozens taken hostage — had been gang raped by Hamas terrorists and is currently incapable of speaking about the instance with reporters or investigators.
The piece includes a quote from Mirit Ben Mayor, a police chief superintendent, who said that the Hamas terrorists were motivated by a combination of two hatreds: “the hatred for Jews and the hatred for women.”
The report marks one of the most detailed accounts of what Israeli officials have been saying for months: that instances of sexual violence on Oct. 7 were widespread. Since then, Israeli investigators have been slowly compiling evidence of sexual atrocities in preparation for possible war crimes prosecution.
Since the sexual violence atrocities on Oct. 7, much of the world’s reaction has been muted, particularly from international women’s groups and the United Nations.
United Nations Women — the UN agency for gender equality and women’s empowerment — released on Nov. 25 its first statement about the gender-based violence carried out on Oct. 7 — 50 days after the onslaught took place. A week later, on Dec. 1, the agency condemned for the first time ever the Hamas attacks, in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people, mostly civilians, across southern Israel and abducted 200 others as hostages to Gaza.
There have been calls to have UN Women disbanded for waiting so long to comment on the sexual violence, and earlier this month, Israeli actress Gal Gadot slammed the international community for staying quiet about the sexual abuse women experienced at the hands of Hamas.
Accounts of sexual violence against Israelis are not limited to Oct. 7.
Two Israeli doctors who treated freed hostages, as well as an Israeli military official familiar with the matter, confirmed to American newspaper USA Today that some released women revealed that they had suffered violent sexual assaults in captivity. All three spoke on condition of anonymity.
One of the doctors said that among those aged 12 to 48, many of the 30 suffered sexual assault during their captivity at the hands of Hamas in Gaza.
The post Horrific New Evidence Revealed of Hamas’ Systematic Sexual Violence on Oct. 7 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.