Grim fears for Israeli women who remain as hostages of Hamas

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In normal times, said Orit Sulitzeanu, the work she does as executive director of the Association of Rape Crises Centers in Israel means fighting frustrating silence about sexual violence.

“When you work in rape crisis centres your job is to see and acknowledge horrific things done to people and, without acknowledgement, these people live and suffer horribly because society around them prefers to close their eyes and not see these horrific things.

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“To break the code of silence, you must say yes, it happened, and you acknowledge and help the survivors, you put the blame on the perpetrators. This is the regular work when you work in the field of sexual violence.

“But since the 7th of October, we found ourselves in another world.”

In the aftermath of the deadly Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel, Sulitzeanu said, she unexpectedly sees that struggle against silence reflected on the world stage, with people ignoring or denying that sexual violence was an integral part of the attacks.

“What Israel is now facing is what a woman usually is facing,” Sulitzeanu said. “Usually a woman faces she-said, he-said. What Israel is now facing is people saying it never happened.”

One day, maybe, someone will be able to tell a story that they can’t tell now

Ahead of International Women’s Day, marked on March 8, a renewed push by prominent women offers a deeper analysis and assessment of the evidence of sexual violence in the surprise attacks in Israel, despite the strain of uncovering truth in two of the most challenging circumstances: war and rape.

“Everybody in Israel and all the media around the world wants to find survivors. It’s like an obsession in Israel. What happened in this horrible massacre was the Hamas terrorists were very efficient. They managed to kill most of the women they abused and raped,” said Sulitzeanu.

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“However, there are (rape) survivors in Israel. There are survivors, I know that. I don’t know how many, I know about a few and there are probably more than I know. The survivors are undercover. They don’t want to be known and they really want to take care of themselves.

“It will take time. Maybe it will take a year, maybe five years, maybe 10 years. One day, maybe, someone will be able to tell a story that they can’t tell now.”

The crisis is hardly over. There are 19 women missing after Hamas took hostages back into Gaza, 14 of them are believed to still be alive in captivity. There are grim fears about what they are facing. Some of their families, the Israeli government, and others make clear they fear the worst. Evidence suggests it might be.

Sulitzeanu’s association released its report on Feb. 21, called “Silent Cry.” It cataloged, categorized, and analyzed both first-hand information and previously published accounts.

“When you see the big picture,” Sulitzeanu said of the attacks, “you see it was intended, planned, directed sexual abuse. It was not sporadic. My job is not to be political. We do not represent the official authorities of the country. I don’t have to do propaganda,” she said.

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Ruth Halperin-Kaddari is an Israeli lawyer specializing in international women’s rights who spent 12 years on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. She said evidence of sex crimes by Hamas in the attack on Israel is mounting, despite a campaign of denial.

“I believe the world has not given enough attention … to this part of the Hamas attack and the atrocities and the crimes against humanity that were committed against Israel,” she said.

Halperin-Kaddari said she has had access to investigative materials by the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli police.

“I can say that there is ample evidence and indications based on firsthand eyewitness testimonies, based on first responders testimonies, and footage and pictures that were taken in collecting the bodies, based on the workers at the morgue, based on conversations that I have had with therapists who treat survivors of sexual assault, and based on information that has been given from hostages that returned from Hamas captivity — based on all this — I can say that sexual violence and gender atrocities were a systematic part of the attack on October 7.”

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There were patterns to the violence in multiple locations that were attacked by Hamas and other fighters, she said, which dismiss the idea that sexual abuse was isolated or incidental to the attack.

“When taken together it is proof, in my perspective from a legal point of view, that it could not have been sporadic incidents initiated by unorganized attackers. It could not have taken place had it not been part of a preconceived plan.”

She also said some women survived sex attacks during the raids but are living in pain and uncertainty.

“(Hamas was) successful in leaving little living evidence, in the sense of murdering their victims. That was part of their plan to silence them forever.

“I do know that there are a few survivors. They are totally unable to speak, as yet, and there’s no way of knowing whether they will ever be able to speak, but the fact is that right now we do not have women or men who come forward and testify for themselves as survivors.”

Another challenge, they said, was the scale and chaos of the scenes.

Irene Nurith Cohn is a volunteer with ZAKA, a national, non-governmental emergency victim recovery organization in Israel. Its mandate is to ensure Jewish victims are buried in accordance with Jewish religious law. Almost all members are men and most Orthodox Jews. Cohn is a rare woman in the organization, mainly because she has special skills as an experienced scuba diver. Usually she deals with tragedy underwater.

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“We are always on the scene after something really bad happens — car crashes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks,” she said. “According to Judaism, it is very important to recover every part of the body, even the blood, and to bury people as quick as possible.”

Cohn came south to help in the recovery about a week after the Oct. 7 attacks, and joined a team that was still collecting body parts and clearing houses. The first pass through the kibbutzim and other areas that were attacked was a desperate search for victims, to identify bodies of the dead for burial, and to help determine who was taken hostage.

I can say that sexual violence and gender atrocities were a systematic part of the attack on October 7

ZAKA workers then made a second pass through the houses and cars to collect any remaining body parts, tissue or blood, she said.

“We went through the houses, which was a very complex mission, and the scenes were horrific,” Cohn said. “You had time to think and learn what had happened there, and each house had a story.

“You could see, you could see what had happened there, even after the bodies were removed and you know it was horrific. They were in situations where it was impossible for your mind to get around the cruelty. It was terrible. I’ve seen heads. I’ve seen a leg, an arm. I found in one of the cars some front teeth. I found a piece of a skull.

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“And a lot, a lot, a lot of blood. A lot of blood. One of the houses, I remember that we walked in and you could see a river of blood, like somebody had dragged somebody across the floor. Maybe he was kidnapped, or she, I don’t know.

“There were many bodies of the terrorists, and we also took care of those bodies. I saw one of the bodies of the terrorist and he was naked from the waist down. You can only imagine why he would be without his trousers when we speak of what they did to the women.”

Sulitzeanu said rape crisis workers wish the civilian volunteers of ZAKA had the time and resources to gather evidence as they gathered the bodies.

“They didn’t understand what they were seeing. They didn’t see the big picture and so it was total chaos at the time. They didn’t treat this as a crime scene, only as a terror attack place. Therefore, none of the things were done that are usually done when there’s a crime scene, like take photos, try to collect evidence.

“In war, who deals with rape kits?”

Halperin-Kaddari, the lawyer, agreed the scale of devastation and priorities of first responders make it harder to gather evidence.

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“There is no forensic evidence in the traditional sense of the word, in terms of examinations,” Halperin-Kaddari said. “This adds to this campaign of denial… the extremely sinister and sophisticated denial campaign by Hamas, with its allies Russia and China.”

Halperin-Kaddari was in Canada this week, attending a conference hosted by the Council of Muslims Against Antisemitism.

While she was in Toronto, a meeting was being convened at the United Nations in New York, on Monday. Pramila Patten, the UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, publicly revealed her findings after an official mission to Israel.

Patten and nine technical specialists spent 17 days gathering information about the Oct. 7 attacks and the aftermath. The team included a forensic pathologist and others with expertise in medical and forensic information, analysis of open source and digital information, and ethical interviewing of victims and witnesses of sexual violence.

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They met with health and social services officials, military, police, and intelligence officers, and interviewed 34 other people, including survivors and witnesses of the terror attacks, released hostages, first responders, and families and relatives of hostages still held in captivity. The UN team visited sites and reviewed about 5,000 photos and 50 hours of video footage of the attacks, Patten said.

Patten faced the same hurdle as Sulitzeanu and Halperin-Kaddari. Despite making a public plea on her first day in Israel for survivors to speak with her, none came forward, and she too left without a first-hand survivor account. But Patten confirmed there are living rape victims.

“A handful of them were receiving specialized trauma treatment and were too traumatized to speak,” Patten said.

Even so, there was enough evidence for the UN to make several findings. Her 23-page report uses various standards of proof, like in the court system, to evaluate the level of evidence supporting her conclusions.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations,” the UN report says.

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“Across the various locations of the 7 October attacks, the mission team found that several fully naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down were recovered — mostly women — with hands tied and shot multiple times, often in the head. Although circumstantial, such a pattern of undressing and restraining of victims may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence.”

There were “reasonable grounds to believe” that victims at the Nova music festival were killed after — or while — being raped or gang raped, the UN report says.

“On Road 232, credible information based on witness accounts describe an incident of the rape of two women by armed elements. Other reported instances of rape could not be verified in the time allotted. The mission team also found a pattern of bound naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down, in some cases tied to structures including trees and poles.

“In kibbutz Re’im, the mission team further verified an incident of the rape of a woman outside of a bomb shelter and heard of other allegations of rape that could not yet be verified.”

There was “circumstantial evidence” to support sexual violence at kibbutz Kfar Aza, “as female victims were found fully or partially naked to the waist down with their hands tied behind their backs and shot.

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“In the Nahal Oz military base, the mission team reviewed reports of sexual violence including a case of rape and genital mutilation, neither of which could be verified. With respect to the latter instance, while the forensic analysis reviewed injuries to intimate body parts, no discernible pattern could be identified, against either female or male soldiers. However, seven female soldiers were abducted from this base into Gaza.”

The UN team found some incidents previously reported were “unfounded due to either new superseding information or inconsistency in the facts gathered,” including an account from kibbutz Be’eri of a pregnant woman having her womb opened and her fetus stabbed while still inside her.

The strongest level evidence supporting sex abuse by Hamas fighters related to the hostages taken during the attacks.

“The mission team found clear and convincing information that some have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and sexualized torture and sexualized cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and it also has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing,” the report says.

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Patten said she could not provide more details on sexual abuse of hostages for privacy reasons.

Hamas has denied involvement in sex assaults during its attacks and of mistreating female hostages. It also rejected the findings of the UN report.

Patten’s report, including confidential information that is not in the public report, was submitted to the UN Secretary General, António Guterres.

Sulitzeanu, Halperin-Kaddari, and Cohn all said they hope the world will listen to the evidence.

“They still can condemn our politicians, you know, that’s okay,” said Sulitzeanu, “but don’t erase the sadistic brutalities of what the Hamas did.”

• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | X: AD_Humphreys

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