REIM, ISRAEL – The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel has released a report detailing evidence of sexual crimes committed by Hamas gunmen during the attacks on the Nova music festival in Reim, Israel. The report describes “identical patterns” of sexual violence at multiple locations, including brutal acts of violent rape, and the deliberate targeting of injured women.
According to the report, Hamas gunmen allegedly conducted violent rapes of women “collectively” or “in front of an audience,” in addition to pursuing victims who had escaped the attacks and dragging them by their hair. The report also suggests that the majority of victims were subsequently killed during or after the sexual assaults, with many victims’ bodies found mutilated and bound, and their sexual organs brutally attacked.
In response to the accusations, Hamas has denied that its gunmen sexually assaulted women during the attacks.
The report’s findings have been submitted to the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, who is conducting a similar investigation and visited Israel last month. The report has also raised concerns among independent UN experts, who have expressed concern about reports of violence against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The allegations made in the report have been met with strong denial and rebuttal from Israel, which has complained about the slow response from international organizations to the allegations.
Overall, the report sheds light on the horrifying and systematic nature of the alleged sexual crimes committed by Hamas gunmen and has sparked international concern and condemnation over the appalling actions described in the report.