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The , women's groups and human rights groups are facing criticism for not quickly condemning Hamas fighters for raping and sexually violating Israelis .

some experts and advocates did not quickly rally behind Israel's that Hamas fighters committed sexual violence.

There is strong evidence—including and first responders' testimony, of released hostages and —t³ó²¹³Ù . This includes rape, gang rape, sexual torture and sexual mutilation of Israelis of .

Beyond antisemitism, were there other reasons for the hesitation to identify sexual violence as part of Hamas' attack?

with victims of war-related sexual violence and other serious crimes.

We believe that some experts may have hesitated because in its attacks against Israeli civilians. We take this factor into consideration as we suggest why Hamas may have made a decision to use sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack.

Sexual violence in war

Research on sexual violence in armed conflicts has grown rapidly over the , as feminist scholars increasingly took women's and girls' .

This research helps explain what motivates people, governments and armed groups to . It also helps illuminate, , why some armed forces and groups commit sexual violence during wars and how to prevent and .

Armed forces and armed groups sometimes intentionally use sexual violence to carry out attacks and achieve military goals, leading to the term "."

Rape and to destroy the morale and fighting spirit of enemy forces. In a number of recent conflicts, rape has been a potent weapon to instead of fighting back.

Sexual violence has been most recently used against civilians in wars in , .

Sexual violence's effects on victims, their families and their communities include serious short- and and economic harm.

When and where it tends to happen

One of the best publicly available datasets on sexual violence in war is the .

Created by Professor , this analyzes rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, sexual torture and other sexual crimes in 189 armed conflicts in 86 countries, from 1989 through 2021.

Our analysis of this data shows that, first, sexual violence does not occur in all conflicts. Sexual violence was reported in approximately half of the 189 armed conflicts.

Second, sexual violence may be but not all, groups fighting in a conflict. It also does not happen consistently throughout a conflict.

Third, government forces are twice as likely as rebel and insurgent groups to use sexual violence—with government forces committing sexual violence in 28% of the years of conflict, versus rebel groups doing so 14% of years of conflict.

For example, the , and are notorious for their use of sexual violence against civilians.

Finally, although rebel groups are less likely to use sexual violence, when they do they are significantly more likely to use systematic and , as opposed to isolated occurrences.

The case of Israel and Palestinian territories

Previous research overwhelmingly finds that after 1948, the conflict between Israel and Palestinian groups has very low levels of reported sexual violence committed by either the , which formed in 1987. question these findings.

There are credible reports of Israeli security forces sexually torturing Palestinians in eight of the 31 years between 1989 to 2021, and also during this time frame. These acts of sexual torture and rape are found in infrequent , and most occurred when Palestinians were detained.

Hamas' , including using human shields, taking hostages and killing civilians, are well documented.

Our analysis shows that Hamas does not have a history of using sexual violence .

The intent of Hamas' attack

Given this history, how do we make sense of in the Oct. 7 attack?

Researchers have determined that much of the sexual violence during armed conflict is men communicating their own masculinity to others, while demonstrating other males' inability to protect women and girls .

Male perpetrators also use sexual violence to .

Female and can experience a range of physical and psychological harms, some of which can last a lifetime. They may experience , which can cause long-lasting social and economic harm. Female victims can become pregnant. Some in such cases will terminate their pregnancies, while others as a result of their rape.

Hamas sexually brutalized the women and men they raped, with reports that were severely mutilated. Hamas also reportedly either while or after they raped them on Oct. 7.

These violent acts suggest an intent to utterly destroy their victims, while also terrorizing the Israeli public and humiliating Israeli men, Israel's military and the state of Israel.

We also think that Hamas' use of sexual violence was intended to outrage and provoke Israel and attack civilian spaces in Gaza. Hamas hopes in doing so to consolidate power and .

Was Hamas' use of sexual violence part of a predetermined strategy, or fighters acting opportunistically without orders? At least a year in advance, Hamas mapped and planned the attack with .

They also carried out an intense daylong exercise that mimicked . Given this level of planning and Hamas' previous lack of using sexual violence, it is highly unlikely that Hamas' sexual violence committed against Israelis was the result of some men who went rogue. More likely, sexual violence was part of Hamas' war tactics and strategy.

The and the are now, rightly, investigating Hamas' use of sexual violence as possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Under international law, surviving victims have . Families of the victims who were killed have a right to information about what happened to their loved ones. Throughout it all, everyone directly affected by sexual violence has a right to be treated with care and dignity.

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