Hamas planned to use sexual violence as weapon of war during attack on Israel

An Israeli women's rights campaigner and lawyer has told reporters that, based on evidence she has seen, Hamas had a premeditated plan to use sexual violence as a weapon of war during its 7 October attack on Israel.

Prof Ruth Halperin-Kaddari says she had seen footage of women in several locations whose condition left her in "no doubt" that they had been raped.

She says she saw several first-hand, eyewitness accounts, for example of one survivor who hid in the bushes and saw a woman next to her being raped by several men.

Israeli police say they have so far gathered more than 1,500 testimonies from witnesses and medics, with a range of violence from gang rape to the sexual mutilation of murdered victims being investigated.

Hamas denied carrying out sexual violence during the 7 October attacks.

[Source: BBC]