An independent Israeli civilian commission has concluded that Hamas and allied Palestinian factions systematically employed sexual violence during the 7 October 2023 assault on southern Israel and against hostages held in Gaza. The two-year investigation, whose findings were released on Tuesday, lays the groundwork for potential war crimes prosecutions.
Investigation Details
The commission, established in November 2023 and led by attorney and international law expert Cochav Elkayam-Levy, published its roughly 290-page report titled "Silenced No More." Elkayam-Levy, recently awarded the Israel Prize, the country's highest civilian honour, said the panel drew on United Nations investigations, survivor testimonies, filmed footage, and a war-evidence archive containing over 10,000 photographs and videos—amounting to more than 1,800 hours of visual material. The report includes over 430 testimonies from survivors, witnesses, experts, and relatives of hostages, documenting victims from 52 nationalities.
Elkayam-Levy emphasised that each piece of evidence was cross-referenced and geolocated to withstand denial—a deliberate response to controversy after some early accounts of sexual violence, including testimony from ZAKA first responders, were later withdrawn or debunked. The report identifies 13 forms of sexual and gender-based violence, including rape, gang rape, sexual torture, mutilation, forced stripping, executions linked to sexual violence, and the filming and dissemination of assaults, as well as attacks against men and boys.
Legal Implications
The commission concludes that these acts must be examined as possible war crimes, crimes against humanity, acts of genocide, and terrorist acts under international law. It states that sexual violence was "a central element" of both the attack and the hostage-taking period. The International Criminal Court (ICC) had previously sought arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders over alleged responsibility for war crimes including rape and sexual violence, but all three were killed during Israel's military campaign in Gaza, leading the court to close those proceedings.
The authors acknowledged that evidence was complicated by the deaths of many victims and the destruction of crime scenes, but argued that this "does not prevent prosecution, but rather requires an approach based on connecting multiple forms of evidence and identifying recurring patterns."
Broader Context
The Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the 7 October attacks across southern Israel and took 251 hostage. The Israeli government has accused the international community of ignoring or downplaying evidence of sexual violence during the attacks, alleging anti-Israel bias. The subsequent Israel-Hamas war in Gaza resulted in the deaths of around 72,000 people, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry, whose figures the UN and other international organisations have found largely reliable, though Israel has disputed them. Roughly 90% of infrastructure in the Strip was damaged or destroyed before a US-brokered ceasefire took effect last October.
This report adds to a growing body of documentation of atrocities in the conflict, which has drawn widespread international condemnation and calls for accountability. The findings may influence ongoing debates in European capitals about support for Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as discussions at the ICC and the International Court of Justice. For European policymakers, the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war raises urgent questions about how to strengthen international legal mechanisms and support survivors.
