UN Women finally condemn Hamas rapes

While there are plausible reasons for the delay, the impact has been to minimise the sexual violence of the October 7 attacks and abandon Israeli women. 

The October 7 massacre by Hamas led to the death of at least 1,200 Israelis and some foreigners, As more evidence becomes available, the scope and extent of rape and sexual abuse by Hamas leaves no room for doubt: Hamas used gender-based violence as a weapon of war, and thus perpetrated both war crimes and crimes against humanity. Hamas also took some 250 captives, including women, children, and infants, from Israel into Gaza and is still holding about 140, which also constitute international crimes.

Yet, despite what Israeli women view as incontrovertible evidence, the lack of response by international women’s institutions and agencies, and especially those of the UN, has left them feeling abandoned and betrayed. And while there have been some responses in the past few days, most feminists continue to feel that even these are too little, too late.

In the days immediately following October 7, Israeli feminist organisations began collecting testimonies and evidence about sexual and gender-based violence.  Initially working ad hoc, they quickly realised that the task was logistically and emotionally almost overwhelming. 

In response, Cochav Elkayam-Levy, of the Department of International Relations at Hebrew University, established the Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children as an NGO to gather evidence, and testimonies about the sexual violence, and ultimately, compile a data base of the crimes.