Hamas forced sexual torture between family members on Oct. 7

Key Points:

• A two-year investigation by the Israeli non-profit Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children uncovered widespread sexual violence by Hamas during and after the October 7, 2023 massacre, including rape, sexual torture, and mutilation aimed at destroying families.
• The commission collected over 10,000 photos, nearly 2,000 hours of footage, and interviewed more than 430 witnesses, revealing horrific accounts of women being raped, mutilated, executed, and paraded as trophies, with similar abuses inflicted on men, boys, and the elderly.
• The report describes "kinocidal sexual violence," where captors used sexual violence to break family bonds, including forcing family members to commit sexual acts on each other and threatening young women with forced marriage to their captors.
• Survivors detailed ongoing sexual abuse during captivity in Gaza, emphasizing the psychological torture of losing control over their bodies, with the commission concluding these acts constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
• Commission founder Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy stated that sexual violence was a deliberate, exceptionally cruel strategy by Hamas, with the investigation confronting evidence often described as beyond comprehension.