Silenced no more

WARNING: SENSITIVE CONTENT 

On 7 October Hamas committed the most evil of crimes and their victims and survivors will no longer be silenced by those who deny, downplay, and justify the atrocities. 

This week, the Civil Commission ‒ an independent Israeli non-profit organisation led by human rights expert and 2024 Israel Prize laureate Dr Cochav Elkayam-Levy ‒ released a report on what happened that day. “Silenced No More” was meticulously documented and referenced over two years and is a devastating collation of the crimes against humanity and sexual violence committed on that day and to hostages in captivity. 

Please don’t look away. As unbearable as the testimonies are to read and hear, we must bear witness. We have a moral duty to be their voices. Silence is a second violation. We must bear witness and be the voices of victims and survivors. 

Back in 2024 I was invited with a small group of journalists and diplomats to view some of the evidence found on the terrorists on 7 October and subsequently discovered in the Gaza Strip. Under close supervision at military intelligence headquarters, we viewed weapons, maps, books, and other material – and detailed orders to commit acts of appalling sexual violence, including instructions for the victims to remove their clothing. 

Ushered into another room, phones prohibited, we were shown a 20-minute collation of footage from Hamas body-cams, first responders, and desperate family members searching for their loved ones. This, we were told, would be evidence submitted to the International Court of Justice, where South Africa has filed a case accusing Israel of “genocide”. The images are seared into my conscience, including that of a partially burned woman, her legs splayed, dress pushed up, and her naked intimate parts for the world to see. There was a slice across one of her thighs. I recall another image that I see as clear as day. The body of a woman, on top of a pile of corpses, bleeding from her crotch where she had been shot with the deliberate intent to defile her femininity. 

The evidence of what I saw is undeniable. 

These are two specific examples of the horrific crimes of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and crimes against humanity committed against Israeli women, men, and children on 7 October and hostages in captivity. 

Despite irrefutable proof noted in reports by UN Women, the Dinah Project, and one from the Association of Rape Crisis Centers, denial, downplaying, and even justification of the atrocities continue ‒ including by feminist organisations. It would appear that the voices of victims matter ‒ unless they are Israeli. What message does this send future victims of SGBV? 

This report is close to 300 pages long and contains documentation of at least 10 000 items, including videos, photographs, forensic findings, and the testimonies of 430 victims and survivors. Hamas proudly filmed and distributed evidence of its crimes. The hope is that not only will this be documented to fight back against denial but could lead to further legal action against the perpetrators. Israel’s Knesset has approved the convening of a special tribunal to try the perpetrators of 7 October. 

The individual testimonies are absolutely devastating. 

In the weeks and months following the atrocities, eye witnesses and forensic experts testified about what they saw. Forensic experts spoke about the condition of the bodies brought in for identification, saying they’d been shot in their eyes, their faces, and their breasts, and even targeted in their most intimate parts. Women were stripped, bound, stabbed, shot, and burned. Heads were decapitated and pelvic bones shattered. 

Even after death, sexual assault continued. A Nova survivor testified to a victim being shot in the head while her rapist continued his assault. The intention was clear ‒ to destroy their beauty and femininity. Forensic pathologists spoke of an “obsession with sex organs”. First responders echoed the same sentiment and have addressed numerous nongovernmental organisations and global institutions, sharing their testimonies on the defilement and horror they saw on the kibbutzim, road 232, and at the Nova festival grounds. 

Former hostages have spoken about the abuse they suffered in Gaza. Guy Gilboa-Dalal spoke about how he was touched on his private parts and how his captor “wanted to make a porn movie with him”. Romi Gonen testified to daily abuse. 

Keith Siegel, a 67-year-old grandfather who was taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza along with his wife, Aviva, 65, testified that he was made to undress in front of a terrorist who then shaved his pubic hair and made comments about his penis. 

Aviva spoke about how she was nearly executed after she comforted a girl who was sexually assaulted in captivity. She recalled telling girls to take feminine products with them to the bathroom so that if their captors thought they were on their period, they wouldn’t abuse them. 

The commission also identified 13 recurring patterns of SGBV repeated across multiple sites. They include a damning list of crimes: 

• Rape, gang rape, and other forms of sexual assault. 

• Sexual torture, including intentional burning and mutilation. 

• Deliberate shooting in the head, face, and genital area. 

• Killings and executions following or committed during abuse. 

• Postmortem sexual abuse, humiliation, and the desecration of bodies, including cutting off body parts. 

• Forced nudity and exposure, including to family members. 

• Handcuffing, binding, and restraint of victims. 

• Public displaying and parading of women and children. One such example is the parading of the body of Shani Louk, whose partially undressed and twisted limbs were paraded on a truck in Gaza while men spat at her. 

• Abduction of mothers and children. 

• Sexual violence in the presence or near vicinity of family members, including kinocide, the deliberate targeting and destruction of families as a weapon of war or terror, recognised as a distinct form of violence against humanity. 

• Filming and digital dissemination by the perpetrators, including the use of social media to document, glorify, and amplify the atrocities. 

• Threats of forced marriage. 

• Rape and other forms of sexual violence against boys and men. 

President Isaac Herzog released a statement on social media platform X on behalf of his wife, Michal, who said, “We must continue to amplify around the world the voices of the victims of sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists on 7 October and thereafter.” 

Michal commended the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes against Women and Children for its “dedicated research and tireless work, resulting in the publication of an important new report that once again gives voice to the victims”. 

To read the full report or selected highlights, go to https://www.civilc.org/silenced-no-more 

• Rolene Marks is a Middle East commentator often heard on radio and TV and is the co-founder of Lay of the Land and the SA-Israel Policy Forum.