By Siddhant Hira
Sexual violence has been documented in armed conflicts across the world — including in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Chechnya, the Central African Republic, Iran, Kenya, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Uganda, and more recently Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, Haiti and Ethiopia — and has been prosecuted as war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in several instances. Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) is widely recognised as a feature of modern conflict, often deployed as a tactical instrument of war to terrorise civilian populations.
The October 7 violence is cited as a recent example of such crimes, which reportedly affected victims from 52 nationalities and resulted in the deaths of 475 people, including women and children.
Beyond the acts of sexual and gender-based violence themselves, the dissemination of such content has been described as an additional layer of harm. In several instances, families reportedly learnt of their loved ones’ fate through social media and digital platforms associated with victims, a development that has raised concerns over the use of digital spaces to amplify psychological terror.
A report titled Silenced No More: Sexual Terror Unveiled – The Untold Atrocities of October 7 and Against Hostages in Captivity, published by the Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children after two years of research, documents alleged patterns of sexual violence and related atrocities. The report draws on more than 430 testimonies and over 1,800 hours of visual analysis, identifying 13 documented patterns of violence.
The Commission includes jurists, UN prosecutors and experts on gender-based crimes. Its Principal Contributor is Irwin Cotler, former Canadian justice minister and attorney general, while Distinguished Contributors include David Crane, founding chief prosecutor of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, among others.
The report references multiple international and UN-linked assessments, including those by the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel, and other bodies, which have recorded allegations of sexual violence during the October 7 attacks and in captivity.
According to the Commission, the attacks involved acts of extreme brutality, with documented instances of perpetrators celebrating violence, chanting slogans, and recording incidents. It also notes that violence occurred across both civilian and military locations, with some sites exhibiting additional layers of destruction, including booby traps that required specialised clearance before recovery operations.
The report further highlights what it describes as the deliberate publicisation of violence, arguing that the circulation of such material transformed visibility itself into a tool of intimidation, intensifying harm to victims, survivors and families. It also points to ideological and religious expressions during the attacks, which it interprets as evidence of systematic indoctrination and justification of violence.
The Commission concludes that the nature and scale of the alleged acts amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide under international legal frameworks, arguing that sexual and gender-based violence was used as a deliberate strategy of terror rather than isolated incidents. It calls for strengthened international cooperation and targeted sanctions against those responsible, warning of the risk of recurrence if accountability is not enforced.
The report also raises concerns over the role of digital platforms in the rapid spread of violent content, noting that such dissemination can amplify psychological impact and potentially encourage imitation by extremist groups globally.
By documenting what it describes as systematic patterns of sexual violence during the October 7 attacks and subsequent captivity, the report seeks to contribute to the historical and legal record of the events. It argues that recognition and prosecution are essential both for accountability and for ensuring that such crimes are neither minimised nor erased from collective memory.
The Commission concludes that the events of October 7, 2023 represent one of the most severe instances of violence against civilians in recent years, particularly affecting women and children, and calls for full legal accountability alongside sustained support for victims and affected families.
(Siddhant Hira is a member of Team Grey-Zone and Influence at the Irregular Warfare Initiative (USA).He specialises in intelligence studies, irregular warfare, and the Indo-Pacific region)
Disclaimer: The views expressed are the author’s own and do not reflect the official policy or position of Financial Express.