‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7
www.nytimes.com
A Times investigation uncovered new details showing a pattern of rape, mutilation and extreme brutality against women in the attacks on Israel.

Israeli officials say that everywhere Hamas terrorists struck — the rave, the military bases along the Gaza border and the kibbutzim — they brutalized women.

A two-month investigation by The Times uncovered painful new details, establishing that the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7.

Relying on video footage, photographs, GPS data from mobile phones and interviews with more than 150 people, including witnesses, medical personnel, soldiers and rape counselors, The Times identified at least seven locations where Israeli women and girls appear to have been sexually assaulted or mutilated.

Four witnesses described in graphic detail seeing women raped and killed at two different places along Route 232, the same highway where Ms. Abdush’s half-naked body was found sprawled on the road at a third location.

And The Times interviewed several soldiers and volunteer medics who together described finding more than 30 bodies of women and girls in and around the rave site and in two kibbutzim in a similar state as Ms. Abdush’s — legs spread, clothes torn off, signs of abuse in their genital areas.

Many of the accounts are difficult to bear, and the visual evidence is disturbing to see.

The Times viewed photographs of one woman’s corpse that emergency responders discovered in the rubble of a besieged kibbutz with dozens of nails driven into her thighs and groin.

The Times also viewed a video, provided by the Israeli military, showing two dead Israeli soldiers at a base near Gaza who appeared to have been shot directly in their vaginas.

Bypass paywall.

  • SkyezOpen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3464·
    11 months ago

    Oh, I thought they weren’t investigating the rave bodies? Well that’s good, surely they’ll tell us how many Israelis were killed by idf attack helicopters.

    • mindlight@lemm.eeEnglish
      11·
      11 months ago

      Do you agree with the following statement? Hamas targeted and attaacked “non combatants” on the 7th of October?

      This is a simple yes / no question about whether you agree with the above statement.

      Edit: One day later and still no reply. Normal thinking people are able to conclude that one bad thing doesn’t automatically cancel out another bad thing. Whether Israel/IDF do bad things or not has nothing to do with the fact that Hamas attacked and executed civilians and non combatants on the 7th October.

      Not being able to admit that “your team” isn’t perfect just makes you look like a fanatic.

    • machinin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1628·
      11 months ago

      Wow, you hit a nerve. I wonder why IDF propaganda is trying to bury this comment so much.

      • Apollo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        259·
        11 months ago

        people are agreeing with me, I must be right

        people are disagreeing with me, I must be right

        • SkyezOpen@lemmy.worldEnglish
          118·
          11 months ago

          There was a rumor/report that a whole bunch of Israelis were killed by idf helicopters and the idf announced that they weren’t going to investigate and that everyone should focus on killing hamas. That happened.

          • Gloomy@mander.xyzEnglish
            137·
            11 months ago

            Hamas supporters in this thread:

            There was a rumor/report that a whole bunch of Israelis were killed by idf helicopters and the idf announced that they weren’t going to investigate and that everyone should focus on killing hamas. That happened.

            Also Hamas supporters in this thread:

            There is no evidence for rape, just rumors, rape accusations are totals wrong, we want prove first.

            • deft@ttrpg.networkEnglish
              32·
              11 months ago

              Okay let us apply logic.

              An attack happened. What is more likely to happen?

              A) those being attacked fire back hitting innocents

              B) those attacking decide to sexually assault people during combat

                • deft@ttrpg.networkEnglish
                  31·
                  11 months ago

                  So you think while a helicopter is firing at you and you are either firing back or pretending to be a civilian to position yourself to fire back, you also simultaneously want to sexually assault someone right now?

                  Get real.

                  • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    1·
                    11 months ago

                    That wasn’t clear in your comment. I thought you were asking why a soldier would rape someone during a war, which happened all the time when people conquered territories and cities in the past. The Rape of Nanking isn’t a figurative term – there was mass rape perpetrated by the Imperial Japanese army.

                    I didn’t realize you meant at the very moment when someone was being shot at, where yes, I agree you fire back. But war is not constant shooting. There are ebbs and flows in the violence and it shifts across regions. When the shooting moves from where you are to somewhere else, the story changes.