Gaza Strip

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Trigger warning: Some readers may find details of this report disturbing. Discretion is advised.

An Islamic Jihad militant who was captured in the Gaza Strip had admitted that his squad committed rape and murdered victims during Hamas' October 7 terror attack, claimed a report by The Jerusalem Post on Friday (Dec 29) citing KAN, an Israeli state-owned publication. Since the war between Israel and Hamas started, there have been allegations that Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups used rape as a weapon of war.

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Some of the captured militants, who were investigated, said they received permission to abuse corpses to create fear in Israeli societies, the report further claimed.

Israel's top national police unit Lahav 433 collected evidence of dozens of cases of sexual offences and sexual abuse from the investigations and survivor testimonies.

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A survivor of the Oct 7 attack testified to the police about a rape she saw. Her testimony was verified by another survivor, the report claimed. 

'A pattern of extreme brutality against women'

The above revelations come as a report by The New York Times (NYT) said that attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct 7.

The NYT relied on videos, photographs, interviews with over 150 people including witnesses, medical personnel, soldiers and rape counsellors.

The publication identified at least seven locations where Israeli females appeared to have been sexually abused or mutilated.

Speaking to The NYT, four witnesses described in graphic detail seeing women raped and murdered at two different places along Route 232. In this same place, Gal Abdush, an Israeli woman, was found dead.

Abdush was found lying on her back, clothes torn, legs spread and vagina exposed, the report said. Her face was beyond recognition. The Israeli police said they believed that the woman was raped.

Also read: Israeli soldiers mistook hostages' cries for help as 'ambush': Probe report

Since the conflict started, Hamas has denied the accusations of rape and sexual violence.

The report further said that the Lahav 433 police unit had been steadily gathering evidence but did not provide a number of how many women were raped, saying that most were dead.

The Israeli police, meanwhile, said that during the shock and confusion of the Oct 7 attack, they did not focus on collecting semen samples from women's bodies, requesting autopsies, or closely examining crime scenes.

Authorities told the publication that at that moment, the police were intent on repelling Hamas militants and identifying the dead. 

(With inputs from agencies)

Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.