SUN 6AM// Britain should prosecute October 7 Hamas rapists, says Israeli investigator Henry BodkinOctober 5, 2025 at 2:00 AM 0 The Nova music festival site where festival goers were killed by Hamas on Oct 7 Leo Correa/AP Sharon ZagagiPinhas thought she understood everything there was to know about r...
- - SUN 6AM// Britain should prosecute October 7 Hamas rapists, says Israeli investigator
Henry BodkinOctober 5, 2025 at 2:00 AM
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The Nova music festival site where festival goers were killed by Hamas on Oct 7 - Leo Correa/AP
Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas thought she understood everything there was to know about rape.
In 24 years as an army lawyer, culminating in a stint as IDF chief military prosecutor, she put countless sexual offenders behind bars, leading complex and disturbing cases that even included the conviction of a general.
So when rumours of widespread sexual violence emerged after Oct 7 – met by immediate denialism – she felt it her "mission" to secure recognition and justice for the victims.
Owing to the particular horrors of that day, however, it is proving far from straightforward. Two years after the massacre, there are still no prosecutions in sight.
"We thought we understood everything regarding sexual violence, but when we saw what happened on October 7, we realised we understood nothing," she said.
As co-leader of the Dinah Project, an independent but influential group of top Israeli lawyers, aided by British government funding, she is now leading the collation of available evidence, while also offering Israeli officials a new legal doctrine with which to bring charges.
"The Israeli police investigation is still pending, meaning there is no decision regarding what to do," she said.
The 51-year-old mother of three is now calling on Britain to help lead the way by launching prosecutions of individual "Nakba" terrorists under the principle of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity.
Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas is urging Briton to prosecute individual Nakba terrorists for crimes against humanity - Eyal Warshavsky
She hopes that this would invigorate domestic authorities to bring Hamas members to court in Israel, where it would be most meaningful.
"It's something we see as very important, because the UK has been a leading voice in the subject of conflict-related sexual violence," she said.
When looked at through the prism of everyday criminal justice, bringing the Oct 7 rapists to justice is a legal nightmare.
Aside from those who were taken hostage and then released, nearly all the people raped or otherwise sexually abused that day were murdered during the act, or shortly after, leaving a dearth of victim testimony.
Many of the bodies were mutilated or burnt – and besides, the collection and preservation of forensic evidence was, for a range of reasons, often sub-standard.
Battles raged for well over a day in parts of Gaza.
Some first responders were also very religious and felt the priority was to recover the bodies in a dignified and timely way ahead of burial, according to Jewish custom.
Normally, investigators attempt to link individual perpetrators to victims.
But, due to the chaos of the massacre – Israel estimates that between 5,000 and 5,600 terrorists crossed the fence that day – plus the difficulties with forensics, this is fraught with difficulty.
"I can't quantify how much [sexual abuse] took place, and I don't think I will ever be able to," said Ms Zagagi-Pinhas.
So much about conflict-related sexual violence – rape as a weapon of war – is different.
By its nature, the victim and perpetrator do not know each other.
Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades roam around the kibbutz near Gaza - X
In addition, and in contrast to day-to-day crime, which typically take place in private, these offences were committed deliberately in full view of others, in order to terrify and degrade.
"They wanted to be seen," said the senior lawyer.
Despite the apparent legal mountain, Ms Zagagi-Pinhas is not downbeat.
What is needed, she and her Dinah Project colleagues argue, is a radically different legal approach.
In short, she wants to see all captured Hamas terrorists from the first wave of the attack – the most radicalised – held jointly responsible for all sexual violence subsequently committed on the principle, broadly speaking, of joint criminal responsibility.
'Intent on destroying Israeli society'
The key, she says, lies in the genocidal Hamas ideology with which their militants crossed the wire that morning: an intention to destroy and dehumanise not just individual Israelis, but Israeli society.
"What we're saying is that every person that entered the attack at 6.29am that morning with the indoctrination of genocide, of dehumanising everything in front of you, the feeling that anything is permitted, should be held responsible for everything that happened in the attack."
At heart, it is the same principle which in many countries would find all members of a bank robbing gang guilty for the murder of one security guard.
Even though only one robber pulled the trigger, the law holds that because all the robbers knew beforehand there was a high likelihood that such a thing could happen as a result of their decision to rob the bank, they are jointly responsible.
That was the doctrine used – although not without controversy – to jail so many members of Britain's knife gangs in recent decades.
The watchword of the Dinah Project is caution. They will go no further than the available evidence, aware there are so many looking to discredit their work.
Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, control while the Red Cross waits to collect Israeli hostages - Abed Hajjar/AP
As such, she only advocates applying the principle of joint responsibility to the first-wave Hamas attackers, the real ideologues, rather than those who joined the killing spontaneously later that day and can't be proved to have acted owing to Hamas's genocidal ideology, as laid down in its founding charter.
But while there is no doubt about Hamas's intention to kill that morning, can the rapes and other sexual assaults be considered collectively premeditated, rather than grotesque individual decisions by militants in the heat of the moment?
Ms Zagagi-Pinhas says the evidence of forethought is substantial in the form of common characteristics across the six sites where these crimes are known to have taken place.
Although she does adumbrate, a document published by the Dinah Project earlier this year references women being cuffed to trees, severe genital mutilation and other common features.
"These are different from normal criminal rapes – they indicate forethought, premeditation," she said. "You see it in every place. It's obvious there was premeditation."
As far as she is aware, there is no written evidence from Hamas commanders of orders to commit sexual crimes.
But this is hardly surprising.
"You can't present yourself as a freedom fighter if it's proved that sexual violence was committed," she said.
And in a comment which might be directed at Hamas supporters in the West, she adds: "Those who claim Hamas are freedom fighters tend to try to hide this."
Could the Dinah Project approach work?
Despite the challenges, there is ample compelling evidence of multiple rapes, says Ms Zagagi-Pinhas.
There is first-hand testimony from survivors, although in all but one case this relates to sexual crimes committed against hostages in captivity.
The Dinah Project is also aware of 17 eye or ear witnesses to sexual assaults on Oct 7.
Taking a cautious approach by making sure the testimonies relate to different crimes, this amounts to 15 separate victims, the project believes – potentially only a fraction of the true number, but a solid foothold from which to launch prosecutions.
Other evidence exists, such as from first responders; there is also some forensic evidence, plus videos, photographs and intercepted communications.
An IDF soldier patrols the festival site near kibbutz Beeri. Firdt responders of Oct 7 have provided evidence of sexual crimes - Aris Messinis/AFP
Israeli justice has never faced a challenge of this scale.
But similar kinds of prosecutions to the type being advocated by Ms Zagagi-Pinhas have worked before, such as in tribunals for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
The project knows that it is not without risk. Criminal proceedings can retraumatise victims and witnesses, and they are adamant that no one should be pressured into taking part unless they want to.
But the women of the Dinah Project, named after a rape victim in the Bible, do want to push the spotlight onto the Israeli justice system.
And you wouldn't bet against them lightly. Through their painstaking, evidence-based work – rather than angry rhetoric of Israel's politicians – they have already succeeded in persuading the UN secretary general to add Hamas to a blacklist of organisations that use sexual violence as a weapon.
"Justice comes in different ways and different phases, like recognising what happened to people, helping them recuperate," reflects Ms Zagagi-Pinhas.
"But I do think that prosecution has very great importance to people. It's a symbol."
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