Incomprehensible testimonies: Against the backdrop of criticism of international organizations and women's organizations that did not condemn the rapes committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7, the Knesset's Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women held a discussion on "crimes against humanity committed by Hamas against women."
"Descriptions that a human being finds difficult to digest and contain": Unit 105 commander of the Israel Police in the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women
The hearing revealed for the first time survivors' testimonies about shocking sex crimes committed by the terrorists. Among the presenters were Tantz Shlomit Landes, head of the investigations division of the police investigations division, which coordinates the identification of casualties at Shura camp, and Deputy Commissioner Shelly Harush of Lahav Unit 433, who is in charge of investigations into massacre offenses.
Horrific testimonies
"As part of the investigation, testimonies are collected from survivors, family members of murdered and abducted victims, members of the security forces, ZAKA, firefighting, rescue and medical forces," Harush said. "We are at the beginning of an investigation, in which more than 1,500 shocking and difficult testimonies have been collected so far, which the mind and mind have difficulty absorbing and containing."
During the hearing, the survivors, as well as representatives of the security, emergency and rescue agencies, spoke and described a series of horrifying testimonies of survivors and rescue forces who arrived at the party area in Re'im and the kibbutzim surrounding the area. The testimonies included particularly harsh descriptions of rape, murder and violence. Some of the testimonies were taken from victims, some were filmed and others were taken from interrogations by terrorists. One Nova party survivor described in his testimony: "There were girls there who just broke their pelvis because they were raped."
Tantz Shlomit Landes and Deputy Commissioner Shelly Harush of the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
At the committee hearing, Harush described a kind of "indictment" that will be filed in due course against Hamas terrorists from Gaza who participated in the massacre and looting on October 7, and described to the conference participants, including ambassadors and embassies from foreign countries, some of the testimonies.
"The murderous terrorists were not satisfied with murdering innocent people," she said. "Rather, the video killed the victims who were on the run, engaged in degradation and humiliation of bodies, including mutilation of bodies and amputation of organs and cremation."
The Lahav 433 unit of the police has been busy investigating the massacre from its criminal side ever since. With the exception of Hamas terrorists and civilians defined as "LBAHs" – illegal combatants, they collect testimonies from survivors of the massacre, rescue medical teams and ZAKA personnel.
The scope of the acts is unimaginable
In the past, the police clarified that the Gaza civilians who invaded the Gaza Strip for the purpose of looting would be punishable by the terrorists who carried out the massacre.
Shocking testimonies. A shocking discussion in the Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"The vile terrorists acted systematically and deliberately to carry out mass slaughter," the police representative added. "Equipped with a variety of weapons, armed with an unimaginable amount of Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns and RPG launchers. Civilian IEDs and grenades against innocent civilians, regardless of religion, race or sex. Mass extermination of everyone who crosses their path."
Harush said that the investigation is also collecting evidence of sexual offenses committed against the victims in cooperation with government ministries, health and welfare, the IDF, the Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Association of Crisis Centers for Victims of Sexual Assault and other treatment agencies.
"The scale of terrorist acts is unimaginable," she noted. "Both in terms of the extent of the number of murdered and wounded, in terms of the atrocities, the degradation, the corruption, the evil, the cruelty that the witnesses described well."
The crimes that will stay with them forever: a discussion of the crimes against women committed by Hamas, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
For example, a survivor of the Nova nature party said in his statement: "It was all an apocalypse of bodies. Girls without clothes, slaughtered people, decapitated. There were girls there who just broke their pelvis because they were raped. They were in terrible positions."
A rescuer who helped locate survivors of the party said: "There were bodies everywhere. Hundreds of bodies. I saw naked women with their hands tied behind their backs, bleeding from intimate areas."
Another witness said: "I saw a lot of mutilated bodies. The body of a woman with jeans rolled up to her knees. Heads without bodies, men with knives stuck to their jaws."
To bring to the attention of the enlightened world what is happening
Another witness described targeted shots in the groin, abdomen, buttocks and limbs. "We saw women who had their breasts amputated, men who had their genitals cut."
We still do not know the extent and magnitude of the atrocities. The Knesset debate, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"There was a situation where she was raped and passed from one to the other," said another survivor. "They were disguised as soldiers. I heard shouting in Arabic. The girl who was abused was bleeding from the back area. I remember a terrorist pulling her hair. I remember she was shot in the head when his pants were still down."
Another testimony, from search and rescue forces, relates to a house in one of the communities: "Inside the shower was the body of a handcuffed woman, she was underdressed, lying in the corner."
"I saw an elderly naked woman with no underwear." Another witness said, and another man said, between the houses was a naked body, also bound, with its mouth tied.
It should be noted that most of the witnesses to the atrocities were murdered. Some of those who survived, including children, have not yet been contacted by police. "It is doubtful whether we will be able to talk to them due to the depth of the trauma," the police said. "It is possible that the abductees will also have information in this context."
They added that the extent and magnitude of the atrocities were still unknown. "We will continue the work of collecting the horror in its unimaginable details. We must bring to the attention of the enlightened world, which talks a lot about the right to live in security and women's rights, everything that happened here on October 7."
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