By: Ariella Haviv

In a harrowing and meticulously documented 80-page report released Tuesday, The Dinah Project — an Israeli NGO composed of prominent legal, gender, and military experts — unveiled what it calls the “most comprehensive assessment to date” of the systematic sexual violence committed by Hamas-led terrorists during and after the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel. The report, titled “A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond,” lays out not only the evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also the disturbing tactical use of sexual brutality by Hamas as an instrument of terror and genocide.

Presented to Israel’s First Lady Michal Herzog, the report constitutes a chilling legal and human account of one of the darkest chapters in modern Jewish history. As The Algemeiner reported on Wednesday, the aim of the report is clear: to shatter the silence surrounding these atrocities, confront global denial, and demand justice for the victims.

According to The Dinah Project, the evidence presented demonstrates that Hamas deployed sexual violence with intent and planning, targeting Israeli civilians and hostages in a widespread, systematic fashion that meets the definition of crimes against humanity under international law. As The Algemeiner report noted, the report’s authors — Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, retired judge Nava Ben-Or, and Col. Res. Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas — have carefully compiled both legal frameworks and graphic firsthand testimonies, all designed to equip prosecutors and governments to confront Hamas’s war crimes head-on.

“This is not freedom fighting. This is sheer violence,” First Lady Michal Herzog declared at the report’s unveiling. “Sexual violence should not be accepted as a tool of war in any conflict around the world.” Her remarks, as shared on the official X account of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, placed an emphasis on the urgency for international accountability. “Silence, denial, and deflection must end—replaced by truth, justice, and recognition: these are crimes against humanity.”

Drawing from testimonies of 15 returned hostages and 17 eyewitnesses, including first responders and morgue attendants, “A Quest for Justice” details a landscape of horror across at least six attack sites: the Nova music festival, Route 232, the Nahal Oz military base, and the kibbutzim of Re’im, Nir Oz, and Kfar Aza.

Victims were found stripped, bound, mutilated, and raped — often in public and before being executed. In some cases, the sexual assault continued after the victims had died. The report documents instances of gang rape, genital mutilation, and deliberate humiliation. In the words of The Dinah Project, “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorizing and dehumanizing Israeli society.”

The Algemeiner report highlighted a particularly disturbing observation in the report: “There was more than one report of continuous sexual assault after the victim was no longer alive.” In addition to the brutal acts committed during the initial wave of the October 7 attack, survivors of captivity in Gaza reported continuous abuse: forced nudity, sexual harassment, threats of forced marriage, and sexual assault.

While many victims were murdered immediately, others — especially women held hostage — were subjected to prolonged trauma in Gaza. “Most victims were permanently silenced — either murdered during or after the assaults or remain too traumatized to talk,” the report concluded.

The Dinah Project’s decision to publish the report as a book is strategic. “Silence protects perpetrators,” Nurit Jacobs-Yinon, the report’s visual editor, told The Algemeiner. “For too long, the sexual violence committed on October 7 has been denied, downplayed, or ignored.” By combining visual storytelling with legal rigor, Jacobs-Yinon hopes to cut through the global noise and compel action.

“I wrestled with how to present such painful truths in a way that demands recognition and justice, without retraumatizing survivors or readers,” she added. “We chose powerful, emotional imagery … not to shock, but to create space for empathy and truth.”

Her words reflect a broader frustration among Israeli civil society: the global response to Hamas’s atrocities has often been muted or politically hesitant. As The Algemeiner  reported, international human rights organizations and multilateral institutions have largely failed to give sexual violence against Israeli victims the attention it would receive in other contexts.

Despite the weight of evidence, The Dinah Project acknowledged the immense challenges facing any attempt to bring the perpetrators to justice. Forensic evidence remains sparse; most crime scenes are inaccessible due to the ongoing war; and many victims are deceased or too traumatized to testify. “These obstacles,” the report says, “pose profound challenges for establishing accountability and achieving justice.”

Nonetheless, the authors believe that the evidence gathered — ranging from morgue photos to survivor testimony — meets the threshold for war crimes, torture, and even genocide. Under United Nations definitions, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) can be prosecuted as a crime against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population.

The report demands that international legal mechanisms — including the International Criminal Court — respond swiftly. As The Algemeiner report indicated, “It is unconscionable that those who decry sexual violence in global conflicts remain silent when the victims are Israeli.”

Beyond legal justice, “A Quest for Justice” serves as a moral indictment of a world that too often turns a blind eye to atrocities against Jews.

By spotlighting these crimes, The Dinah Project hopes to change that. The NGO operates under the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women at Bar-Ilan University — an academic hub long committed to gender justice. Its new report is not merely an academic exercise, but a clarion call to human rights advocates, international courts, and national governments: prosecute sexual violence, even — and especially — when it is politically inconvenient.

Hamas’s atrocities on October 7 were not simply acts of war; they were deliberate, premeditated crimes of sexual violence and terror, committed with genocidal intent. Thanks to the tireless work of The Dinah Project and the courage of survivors and witnesses, the world now has the evidence it needs to confront these horrors.

But as The Algemeiner report observed, evidence alone is not justice. Action must follow.

“We see you. We hear you. We will not stop until justice is done — and every last one of you is home,” First Lady Michal Herzog vowed.

The world now faces a choice: look away, or look squarely at the evidence — and act.