The UN Secretary-General's envoy's report on sexual violence in conflicts, released on Monday, includes testimony from Eden Wesley who provided The New York Times with crucial evidence for its investigation into Hamas' sexual crimes - the photograph titled "the woman in the black dress." (Warning: Wessely’s account may be distressing. Discretion is advised)
Following the report's presentation of mostly circumstantial evidence that Hamas terrorists used sexual violence and rape during the October 7 attack, Wesley expressed her outrage toward the UN for previously ignoring and denying these actions.
"I saw with my own eyes what the terrorists did to women. It's disgusting and shocking. Beyond murder and other horrors, I saw bodies dismembered. Women were raped, and now, after five months, you remember? It's infuriating that the report is only coming out now," she told Ynet.
"Since I saw the woman in the black dress, I haven't been able to sleep. What if my testimony hadn't existed? There are no other testimonies like mine. If this is the only visual evidence, then what? Is everyone lying? The thing women fear most is rape. Some would rather die than be raped. I felt I was speaking on behalf of that girl," she added.
Beyond the report, Wesley hopes that Hamas terrorists will be held accountable. "I hope the terrorists won't be let off. That they won't be silenced and that something will be done about their crimes," she said.
"I don't think anyone will act against Hamas, but my expectation is that they will be judged for their actions. That justice will be served. I really hope someone at the UN wakes up and realizes the hell women went through. I saw it with my own eyes."
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Pramila Patten and her team in her visit to Kibbutz Nahal Oz
(Photo: Foreign Ministry)
She described how the terrorists "violated their bodies before killing them. I'm sure there are many more women who underwent horrific things there and are not ready to talk about it. It's important for me to tell them - if you keep it inside, the scar won't fade. It will only worsen over time."
Following the October 7 surprise attack, Wesley went searching for her best friend at the Nova Music Festival. She returned without her after her friend was abducted into Gaza, but her photographs served as visual evidence of the atrocities.
She recounted the horrors from that search mission, including the image of "the woman in the black dress," which became a symbol of the rape women endured at the hands of Hamas terrorists.
“I decided to go and look for her,” Wessely recalled. “Everyone told me not to go since there were terrorists still at large in the area. But I went, with three other friends, to the location she had sent us on Route 232.
“There were horrible scenes – hundreds of bodies, bodies of people half-in and half-out of cars, body parts scattered along the road. No one had come for them yet. We looked for my friend, but to my chagrin, there were only corpses along the highway. We thought we might be able to find a lead as to what happened to her, so we kept on searching.
“Suddenly, I spotted the bodies of a man and a woman. I asked my friends to stop. It looked as though she had been raped, murdered, and set afire. They shot her and also burned her body. Her hand was covering her face, she had a gunshot wound on the cheek and she had no underpants on. They had lifted her dress, raped her, and afterward torched her. It is not a sight that human eyes can bear. The people I was with grew very distressed and wanted to return home.”
The report confirms evidence of sexual assaults
The UN report on Hamas’ sexual violence on October 7 presents mainly circumstantial evidence proving Hamas terrorists committed sexual crimes during their attack against Israel including cases of rape, gang rape, sexual assault, genital mutilation, nudity and binding of bodies, among others.
Pramila Patten, the UN’s Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, who visited Israel with her team last month to collect evidence on the atrocities, is set to publish the full report on Monday.
The report issued by Patten and her team confirms evidence of sexual violence taking place during the terror group’s October 7 attack. Additionally, the report confirms that female hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were subjected to sexual violence, and there are concerns these crimes are ongoing.
However, the report notes that, due to time constraints and the team's professional capacity, it is currently unable to attribute all of the incidents in the attack to Hamas, given the possibility that some were carried out by Islamic Jihad terrorists or Gazan civilians who infiltrated Israel following the initial attack.
The report’s findings indicate sexual assaults were committed during the attack itself, including circumstantial evidence of rape, sexual assault, shooting at naked and bound women at the Nova Music Festival and the rape of two women on Route 232, as well as genital mutilation on bodies in the area.
The report stated that “based on the totality of information gathered from multiple and independent sources at the different locations, there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred at several locations across the Gaza periphery, including in the form of rape and gang rape, during the 7 October 2023 attacks. Credible circumstantial information, which may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence, including genital mutilation, sexualized torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, was also gathered.
“With regards to the hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence and has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.”