Hamas attack: Israeli police investigate “several cases” of sexual violence committed on October 7

2023-11-14 16:06:10

Israeli law enforcement has already reportedly collected “multiple testimonies” concerning rapes. This Tuesday, the police announced that they were investigating “several cases” of sexual violence committed against women by Hamas commandos during the October 7 attacks.

“No living victims have said they were raped” but “we have multiple witnesses in several cases,” said David Katz, head of the cyber section of the Lahav criminal police unit.

At this stage of the investigation, which could still last “six to eight months”, he said, the police refuse to give a precise figure concerning the victims.

But she showed the press the filmed testimony of a survivor of the rave party from Kibbutz Reim, describing a gang rape of a woman shot dead during her attack.

This survivor, S., interviewed by the police, claims to have seen “a group of women taken away by armed men in military uniforms”. “I understand that they raped her,” she said again, before describing mutilation, rape and execution.

Women’s bodies without pants

“We have several testimonies from people from ZAKA”, the organization specializing in the collection of human remains which was one of the first to go to the scene of the massacres which according to the Israeli authorities left around 1,200 dead, in majority of civilians, added David Katz.

“We also saw bodies of women who no longer had pants or underwear,” he continued.

Since the Hamas attack on Israeli soil, the deadliest in Israeli history, the Israeli army has relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip, held by Hamas, from the air, sea and ground. According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, the bombings left more than 11,000 dead, two-thirds of them women and children.

The Israeli army’s tanks are now tightening their grip on Gaza City and in particular its hospitals because it accuses Hamas of hiding there.