Ariane Ménage (special correspondent in Tel Aviv) / Photo credits: CHRISTOPHER FURLONG / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
In Israel, testimonies of sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists since October 7 are accumulating. The Israeli police investigation is only in its early stages but, according to them, reveals “mass crimes”. And unfortunately, most of the direct victims are no longer here to testify.
Two months after the terrorist attacks, the Israeli army is making progress, as are the investigations into the kibbutz massacres. Just a few days after October 7, Yaëlle Sherer was already gathering the first testimonies for the Israeli police. She runs an advocacy group for victims of sexual violence. “There are some survivors, few in number, but a few people, of both sexes, who survived rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas,” she says.
“Lots of evidence”
But most of the direct victims are no longer there to testify, assures the investigator. So for weeks, the Israeli police have been interviewing survivors of the massacres and rescue teams. “Girls stripped naked, above and below the waist… People massacred, some decapitated. There were girls whose pelvises were broken, from having been raped,” describes Shelly Harush, a witness to the festival Nova, cited by the head of the investigation.
To these testimonies, recalls Yaelle Scherer, are also added: “A lot of ballistic evidence, photos. And these images were often filmed by Hamas itself”. The investigation will still take a long time, warns the Israeli police, at least several months. For their part, the country’s medical authorities are calling for an investigation into crimes against humanity under international law.