Groundbreaking report offers legal framework for prosecuting Hamas sexual violence

A groundbreaking legal report presented Tuesday to the wife of Israel’s President provides the first comprehensive framework for prosecuting Hamas terrorists for the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war during the October 7 attack. “The report presents the truth as it is – shocking, painful, but vital and necessary,” said First Lady Michal Herzog upon receiving the document in Jerusalem. “On behalf of all those who were harmed, we are committed to continuing to fight until their cry is heard everywhere and until justice is done.” The 84-page report — written by Professor Ruth Halperin-Kadri, retired District Judge Nava Ben-Or, and Col. (res.) Attorney Sharon Zaggi-Pinhas, former Chief Military Prosecutor of the Israel Defense Forces — represents the most extensive legal and factual documentation to date of sexual crimes committed during the assault on Gaza border communities. Produced as part of “The Dinah Project,” the report analyzes dozens of sources to establish clear patterns of systematic sexual abuse. The findings reveal consistent patterns of sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists both at murder scenes and in captivity. The report documents gang rape, public humiliation, forced nudity, genital abuse, and direct shooting of intimate body parts. It also includes accounts from abductees describing repeated sexual assaults, threats of “forced marriage,” and attempts to erase sexual identity, including attacks on men. According to the report, investigators found recurring descriptions of half-naked female bodies, sometimes tied to buildings and trees, alongside reports from personnel identifying casualties from military bases. The authors conclude unequivocally that Hamas used sexual violence as part of an overall plan of terror, collective humiliation, and dehumanization of Israeli society. Several Palestinian terrorists captured by Israel have admitted to interrogators they raped and sexually abused women. ‘I’m not really free’ The presentation included testimony from Ilana Gritzewsky, a survivor of 55 days in Hamas captivity who spoke about her experience of sexual abuse. “On October 7, I was in my house, in Kibbutz Nir Oz, with my partner, Matan [Zangauker]. And suddenly – noise. Explosions. Screams. Then a door was broken open. We were kidnapped,” Gritzewsky recounted. Describing her ordeal, she continued: “When I woke up, I was half-naked. Surrounded by terrorists. They beat me, touched me. I didn’t know what happened to my body in those lost minutes. But my soul already knew: nothing would be the same.” Addressing her ongoing trauma, she said, “I was released after 55 days. But I’m not really free. Because true freedom only exists when no one has to go through what I went through.” The report’s authors stressed that sexual violence in conflict is systematic rather than random. “We say this in a clear voice: sexual violence in conflict is a weapon. It is not random, it is not directed only at the individual and it is not done without direction from above. It is time for the international community to treat this phenomenon as such,” Halperin-Kadri stated. The Legal Framework The legal framework proposed in the report calls for applying joint criminal responsibility to all participants in the October 7 attack, even those who did not directly participate in rape. The authors argue that shared responsibility should apply because participants “knew, could have known, or took part in the use of sexual violence as part of the attack.” Joint criminal responsibility (JCR), also known as joint enterprise or common purpose, is a legal doctrine used in international criminal law and some domestic legal systems to hold multiple individuals responsible for a crime committed by a group, even if not all participants physically carried out the criminal act. It has played a role in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide cases in Rwanda and Yugoslavia. “When individuals join a coordinated, ideologically-driven assault aimed at destruction and dehumanization, they bear responsibility for the full range of atrocities committed as part of that assault — even if they did not personally commit each specific act or were not aware of its commission by a co-perpetrator,” the report said. The report outlined several next steps, including calls for the Israeli government to apply shared responsibility doctrine in prosecuting terrorists, appeals to the UN Secretary-General to blacklist Hamas for using sexual violence as a weapon of war, and the development of new legal protocols for handling sexual violence cases in armed conflicts. “This is a groundbreaking report, not only in the scope of the findings, which all existed but we knew how to look at them and put them together, but also in the tools it provides to the legal world,” said Halperin-Kadri. “Our goal is to show how leaders and perpetrators of crimes can be prosecuted even when there is no direct evidence against each of them individually.” The report also aims to influence international proceedings, including potential cases before the International Criminal Court in The Hague and UN human rights institutions. Unlike other post-attack summaries, this document provides what the authors said is a concrete legal roadmap for prosecution based on established international and Israeli law doctrines. At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 50 remaining hostages, around 30 are believed to be dead.

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