Israeli legal and gender experts released an 84-page report on Tuesday concluding that Hamas employed sexual violence as a planned, systematic weapon during its 7 October 2023 assault on communities near the Gaza border. Produced under Bar-Ilan University’s Dinah Project and entitled “A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond,” the document draws on testimony from 15 freed hostages, 17 eyewitnesses and 27 first-responders, alongside forensic and visual evidence. Researchers documented at least 15 separate cases across six locations—the Nova music festival, Route 232, the Nahal Oz military base and the kibbutzim of Re’im, Nir Oz and Kfar Aza. Victims, both women and men, were found partially or fully naked, sometimes tied to trees or poles, subjected to gang rape, genital mutilation and execution. Former captives described continued abuse in Gaza, including forced nudity, sexual assaults and threats of forced marriage. The authors—Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, retired judge Nava Ben-Or and former military prosecutor Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas—argue that the pattern meets the threshold for crimes against humanity. Their report provides a legal blueprint for prosecuting perpetrators and commanders even when individual attribution is difficult, and urges the United Nations to place Hamas on its blacklist of entities that use sexual violence in conflict. First Lady Michal Herzog received the findings in Jerusalem and called for international accountability. Hamas dismissed the allegations, saying the report was “not worth commenting on.” The publication follows a March 2024 assessment by the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict that also found “reasonable grounds” to believe rapes occurred on 7 October.