The European Union announced Friday that it had sanctioned the military branches of Hamas and Islamic Jihad for “widespread sexual violence” during the October 7 attack on Israel.
Fighters from the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Nukhba unit of Hamas and the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, "committed widespread sexual and gender-based violence, in a systematic manner, using as a weapon of war,” says the EU. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are already on the EU's list of “terrorist organisations”.
Hamas denies
The three Palestinian entities were added to the European Union's human rights sanctions list, which affects 104 individuals and 26 organizations from different countries. The decision to impose these sanctions is part of an agreement between EU countries also providing for sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank, accused of violence against Palestinians.
The EU says abuses committed by Hamas fighters include "rape and murder of minors, mutilation of corpses and genital mutilation." She also accused the attackers of “targeted kidnapping of women and girls”.
VIDEO. “He rapes you with his eyes”: the first words of Mia Schem, former Franco-Israeli Hamas hostage
Hamas has denied from the start any assault or sexual violence on hostages or during terrorist attacks, while a UN report published on March 4 reported "clear and convincing information" establishing that certain hostages had suffered sexual violence and that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual violence had taken place on the day of the attacks.
“Systematic” violence
In February, the Association of Rape Support Centers in Israel (ARCCI) had already published a 39-page report to the UN on the sexual violence committed during the October 7 attacks and noted that the latter were “perpetrated in a systematic manner” on the day of the attack and in captivity for the hostages.
This report confirms that multiple rapes and sexual assaults were committed, as well as mutilations of bodies and corpses. The association refers to intentional genital mutilation, with the “desire to destroy women's organs to attack their dignity”.
To produce this summary, ARCCI compiled reports from government sources, press investigations, testimonies from first responders on site, as well as the stories of professionals and victims that it was able to hear via its crisis line.