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New Report Exposes Hamas’ ‘Tactical Use of Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War’ During Oct. 7 Attacks

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
A report released by Israeli NGO The Dinah Project on Tuesday exposes new evidence and details about the extent of the horrific sexual violence carried out by Hamas-led terrorists during their deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The Dinah Project, headed by a team of leading legal and gender experts, was established to gain recognition and justice for victims and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) suffered during the Oct. 7 attacks or, later, as Hamas hostages in Gaza.
The Dinah Project said the goal of Tuesday’s 80-page report — titled “A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond” — is to expose that the violent sexual attacks perpetrated on Oct. 7 constitute crimes against humanity, 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 report, which has been compiled into a book, offers a legal framework on prosecuting such crimes and how the perpetrators should be held accountable. It is the “most comprehensive assessment to date” of the sexual violence that occurred both during the attack and, after, against hostages in captivity, according to The Dinah Project.
The report concluded that Hamas engaged in intentional, widespread and systematic sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack, with “recurring patterns” across at least six different locations: the Nova music festival, Route 232, Nahal Oz military base, and Kibbutzim Re’im, Nir Oz, and Kfar Aza. Victims of sexual violence were found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, often to structures like trees or poles. Evidence showed instances of gang-rape followed by execution, genital mutilation, and public humiliation.
Most of the rape victims were murdered during or right after the Oct. 7 attack. “There was more than one report of continuous sexual assault after the victim was no longer alive,” according to the report.
The Dinah Project spoke with former Hamas hostages who talked about experiencing sexual violence during captivity. Multiple ex-hostages reported forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sexual assaults, and threats of forced marriage. “Most victims were permanently silenced — either murdered during or after the assaults or remain too traumatized to talk,” said the Israeli NGO.
Hamas “used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorizing and dehumanizing Israeli society,” the report stated.
The report’s findings are based on first-hand survivor testimonies, including one survivor who opened up about attempted rape on Oct. 7, and 15 returned hostages who experienced or witnessed sexual violence. Data shared in the report is also based on at least 17 witnesses who described more than 15 separate incidents of sexual assault; testimonies from 27 first responders who saw clear signs of sexual violence; and morgue attendants who described indicators of sexual violence on dead bodies backed by photographic evidence.
The report detailed violent and graphic incidents of sexual violence including: “bodies with objects inserted into their private parts, bodies with signs of shooting or other mutilations in the area of the genitalia, bodies of naked women cuffed onto trees, bodies of half-naked or fully naked women, some lying with their genitalia exposed and legs spread.”
Researchers admitted facing some difficulty creating the report since “most victims were murdered; survivors and released captives may be too traumatized to come forward and testify against their abusers; and forensic evidence required for criminal convictions is difficult to obtain in crime scenes that remain war zones.”
These obstacles posed “profound challenges for establishing accountability and achieving justice,” they wrote.
The report was presented on Tuesday to Israel’s First Lady Michal Herzog. “This is not freedom fighting,” she said of Hamas’ acts of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attacks. “This is sheer violence.”
Sexual violence “should not be accepted as a tool of war in any conflict around the world,” she declared.
“The report lays out clear legal evidence: Hamas used sexual violence as a weapon of war,” the First Lady added in a message shared on the X account of her husband, Israeli President Isaac Herzog. “As a woman, a mother, and an Israeli, I read it with a broken heart. But silence, denial, and deflection must end—replaced by truth, justice, and recognition: these are crimes against humanity. To the survivors, to the hostages still suffering in Gaza: We see you. We hear you. We will not stop until justice is done—and every last one of you is home.”
Under international law, CRSV is, according to the United Nations, a war crime, a crime against humanity, a crime of torture, and can be a constitutive act of genocide.
“A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond” was authored by The Dinah Project’s founding members, Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari and Col. Res. Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas, and retired judge Nava Ben-Or. Nurit Jacobs-Yinon, a member of The Dinah Project, was the visual editor of the report.
“We released this book because silence protects perpetrators,” Jacobs Yinon told The Algemeiner on Wednesday. “For too long, the sexual violence committed on October 7 has been denied, downplayed, or ignored. Exposing these crimes, and providing the legal tools to prosecute them, is essential not only for justice in Israel but for any conflict where sexual violence is used as a weapon of war.”
“I wrestled with how to present such painful truths in a way that demands recognition and justice, without retraumatizing survivors or readers,” she added. “We chose powerful, emotional imagery … not to shock, but to create space for empathy and truth. This is about exposing the crimes of October 7 and ensuring the world cannot look away.”
The Dinah Project operates under the umbrella of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women at Bar-Ilan University.
The post New Report Exposes Hamas’ ‘Tactical Use of Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War’ During Oct. 7 Attacks 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.