Thread by @Laura_E_Adkins

This morning, The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (COI) released a report on the war crimes committed on and after Oct. 7.

Here's what we know:

Systemic sexual violence
Relying on thousands of open-source materials they forensically collected, authenticated, and analyzed, the COI found extensive evidence of systematic sexual violence committed by Hamas and other Palestinian individuals on and after Oct. 7.

The COI found indications that Hamas and other armed groups "committed gender-based violence in several locations in southern Israel on Oct. 7. These were not isolated incidents but perpetrated in similar ways in several locations and by multiple Palestinian perpetrators.”

“The Commission found that women were disproportionately affected by this type of gender-based crime and documented many cases with the same pattern, from both kibbutzim and the Nova festival.”

Sexual violence committed in several locations

The COI "documented cases indicative of sexual violence perpetrated against women and men in and around the Nova festival site, as well as the Nahal Oz military outpost and several kibbutzim, including Kfar Aza, Re’im and Nir Oz."

Extensive evidence of sexual violence, desecration of bodies

The COI "collected and preserved digital evidence, including images of victims’ bodies displaying indications of sexual violence, a pattern corroborated by independent testimonies from witnesses."

"Reliable witness accounts obtained by the Commission describe bodies that had been undressed, in some incidents with exposed genitals."

"The Commission received reports and verified digital evidence concerning the restraining of women, including hands and sometimes feet of women being bound, often behind the victims’ backs, prior to their abduction or killing."

"Additionally, the Commission made assessments based on the position of the body, for example images displaying legs spread or bent over, and signs of struggle or violence on the body, such as stab wounds, burns, lacerations and abrasions.”

Men and women targeted

"The Commission documented the desecration of both male and female bodies, including sexual acts such as undressing the body and/or displaying it partially undressed in public."

Celebration of dehumanization and violence

"In several cases the victims' undressed bodies were displayed as a means of humiliation and disrespect, while these acts were filmed and disseminated. Militants posed with bodies in the streets of Gaza and in videos and photos."

Sexual humiliation of and violence against female hostages
Many of the 90 women and girls kidnapped into Gaza on Oct. 7 were forced into “coerced intimacy with their abductors."

"Female abductees have described how they were subjected to physical and psychological violence in the course of their abductions, being treated as ‘trophies’ or ‘objects’ or subjected to insults such as Jewish female dog.”

"Women and women’s bodies were used as victory trophies by male perpetrators. The abduction, violence and humiliation of women were put on public display, either on the streets of Gaza and/or by recording the bodies of women or the acts of the crime and publishing it online for propaganda purposes.”

Additional evidence of desecration and violence

The COI “found evidence of mistreatment of civilians and [IDF] members in several locations, and significant evidence on the desecration of corpses, including sexualized desecration, decapitations, lacerations, burning, severing of body parts and undressing.”

Indications of sexual violence against female soldiers who the COI describes as "young, unarmed, and untrained for combat"

"Four female bodies found at Nahal Oz outpost were partially or completely undressed, two of which were isolated in separate rooms, showing signs of physical abuse and sexual violence.”

It’s worth noting that Israel does not, as a rule, cooperate with the COI, which it views as deeply biased. Israel allegedly warned medical professionals against cooperating with the investigation, the report says, while Palestinian officials “provided extensive comments.”

But even in this reality, the investigation confirms what we’ve long known: Hamas and other terrorist groups committed systematic sexual violence against Israeli men, women and children on Oct. 7.

The conclusions in the report are all ones the COI came to WITHOUT relying on any evidence of sexual violence which the COI said was not able to independently verify.

The COI report also alleges the IDF committed acts of SGBV against Gazans. Many of the incidents described in the investigation involve the strip searching or interrogation of suspected Hamas militants, or the well-documented “trend” of IDF soldiers posting degrading photos with Gazan women’s lingerie (which has been widely condemned and swiftly sanctioned by the IDF).

While many in Israel are frustrated by the extensive inclusion of extensive allegations against the IDF, in my view, the most significant finding of the COI report is the confirmation — by a body generally hostile to Israel — of the systematic sexual violence committed Hamas and other Palestinian individuals against Israel men, women and children on and after Oct. 7.

Here is a link to the full report. More analysis to come.

ohchr.org/sites/default/…

You may notice that I do not claim that Palestinian civilians participated in the attacks, though the COI report does.

I made this choice bc this report uses the term to refer to any Palestinian attacker on Oct. 7 in civilian clothes.

(Weird, bc we know Hamas often does this.)

A "retort" you may notice abounds in my replies is, "the report said there was no rape! You are liars!"

For starters, that is not what the report said.

The COI cited abundant credible evidence of rape and gang rape, but added that it did not independently verify these claims.

In fact, the report has a subheading, "War crime of rape and other forms of sexual violence."

In that section, the COI "concludes on reasonable grounds" that the perpetrators committed sexual violence 6+ locations in southern Israel.

(pg 56-57)

Careful readers will also note that I did not, in fact, use the word “rape” at all in the original thread.

I specifically highlighted only what the COI attests they independently verified.