“Evidence points to systematic use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas in 7 October attacks”
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Why the Guardian’s ‘Hamas mass rape’ story doesn’t pass the sniff test
A review of a Jan 18 article in the Guardian alleging systematic use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas on October 7. The article appears strikingly similar to a similar article published previously in the New York Times, following “source for source, lede for lede” with a few omissions (notably a key witness (Raz Cohen) who told the Times that the rape he allegedly witnessed was specifically not perpetrated by Hamas). Through a comprehensive review of the presented evidence, witnesses, and their veracity thus far, we have made available our assessment that allegations of systematic rape remain unfounded. Still, we annotate the Guardian article below to continue our goal of fostering an accurate representation of the events of Oct 7, wherever that truth may lie.
Evidence points to systematic use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas in 7 October attacks
Guardian aware of sexual assaults for which multiple corroborating pieces of evidence exist • Warning: contains graphic descriptions
***Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem***Thu 18 Jan 2024 10.00 EST
In videos from 7 October, the body of a young woman is lying face down in the back of a pickup truck, stripped to her underwear, one leg bent at an unnatural angle. One of the men sitting next to her pulls her long hair as armed men around him shout praises to God.
Footage of the body of Shani Louk, the young Israeli-German national described by her mother as a “very happy, lively person [who] liked music and dancing and living”, being paraded around the streets of Gaza was some of the first to surface on 7 October as the scale of the horror visited on sleeping families in kibbutzim neighbouring the strip and people partying at a nearby rave started to become clear.
In the more than three months since the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, the atrocities the militants committed have been well documented. Israel is still grappling with the trauma: entire families burned alive, torture and mutilation, children and elderly people ripped from the arms of their loved ones, seized as hostages.
Emergency responders risked their lives in the fighting on 7 October and several days afterwards to rescue the wounded and retrieve the dead. The chaos meant there were significant failings in preserving evidence of gender-based violence and what is coming to be seen as the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by Hamas.
Israel’s top police investigations unit, Lahav 433, is still poring over 50,000 pieces of visual evidence and 1,500 witness testimonies, and says it is unable to put a number on how many women and girls suffered gender-based violence.
By cross-referencing testimonies given to police, published interviews with witnesses, and photo and video footage taken by survivors and first responders, the Guardian is aware of at least six sexual assaults for which multiple corroborating pieces of evidence exist. Two of those victims, who were murdered, were aged under 18.
At least seven women who were killed were also raped in the attack, according to Prof Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a legal scholar and international women’s rights advocate, from her examination of evidence so far. The New York Times and NBC have both identified more than 30 killed women and girls whose bodies bear signs of abuse, such as bloodied genitals and missing clothes, and according to the Israeli welfare ministry, five women and one man have come forward seeking help over the past few months.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, overwhelmed by the sheer number of victims, and the burned or disfigured state of some of the bodies, morgues were preoccupied with identification and did not have the time or capacity to test for sexual assault using rape kits, said the police spokesperson Mirit Ben Mayor. Lack of trained personnel was also a problem: according to the Israeli daily Haaretz, there are only seven forensic pathologists in the entire country.
Zaka, Israel’s emergency response organisation, usually works in cooperation with police at the scenes of terrorist attacks so the authorities can gather evidence before Zaka removes the bodies. Many have said since the attack that they wished they had realised at the time that, although they were trying to treat the dead with respect, they were also contaminating crime scenes. Most Zaka workers are conservative ultra-Orthodox men: several have said that they “didn’t think of rape at all”.