Israeli soldiers inspect a festival goer’s burnt car at the site of an attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas gunmen from Gaza, near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, October 13, 2023. Portal/Amir Cohen Acquire License Rights
RAMLA, Israel, Oct 14 (Portal) – Military forensic teams in Israel examined the bodies of victims of Hamas’ attack on communities around the Gaza Strip last week and found multiple signs of torture, rape and other atrocities, officials said on Saturday.
Around 1,300 bodies have been taken to an army base in Ramla in central Israel, where forensic examinations are being carried out by special teams to determine the identities of the dead and the circumstances of their deaths.
About 90% of the military dead have been identified and teams are already halfway through identifying civilians, said Rabbi Israel Weiss, a former chief rabbi of the army and one of the officials who oversaw the identification of the dead. He said many bodies showed signs of both torture and rape.
“We saw dismembered bodies with arms and feet chopped off, people who were beheaded, a child who was beheaded,” a reserve officer identified only by her first name, Avigayil, told reporters.
She said forensic examination of the bodies stored in refrigerated containers revealed several cases of rape.
“We are carrying out identification using all means at our disposal,” said a military dentist identified as Captain Maayan. “We see them in severe stages of abuse. We see shots and we see signs that are pure torture.”
The military personnel who oversaw the identification process did not provide any forensic evidence in the form of images or medical records.
Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the Gaza Strip, has denied allegations of abuse.
Hundreds of armed Hamas fighters, some on motorcycles, broke through barriers around Gaza in the early hours of October 7 and raced through surrounding communities, attacking a large outdoor dance party as well as homes and military bases and kidnapping more than 120 Israelis and foreigners.
The attack caused deep shock in Israel, both because of the unprecedented number of deaths in a single day and the graphic footage that emerged from the overrun towns and kibbutz.
In response, Israeli warplanes and artillery bombed the Gaza Strip for days, killing more than 2,200 Palestinians and destroying thousands of buildings in advance of an expected ground invasion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has compared Hamas to the Islamic State, which became known worldwide for its campaign of public beheadings in countries including Syria and Iraq.
Reporting by Peter Hirschberg; Edited by Daniel Wallis
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