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Images of Hamas destruction at Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel
Photo: Ilan Rosenberg / REUTERS
A member of the Palestinian terrorist organization Islamic Jihad has confessed under interrogation to rape and violence against civilians during the massacre on October 7, according to the Israeli army. The military released a video on Thursday that is said to show the interrogation. The 28-year-old Palestinian introduced himself as a member of the jihadist marine unit. He was arrested earlier this month during an army operation in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
The prisoner said he crossed the security fence at the border with Israel on October 7th. He was armed with a pistol and two hand grenades. He then entered a kibbutz near the border and went into a house there. There he met a frightened young woman. After describing her appearance and clothing in great detail, he said he had raped her. The woman and her mother were reportedly abducted to the Gaza Strip by other terrorists.
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The prisoner said he then met three civilians on the way back to the Gaza Strip. He shot at one of them and threw a hand grenade in the direction of a second.
The army viewed the statements as “further evidence of the onslaught of murder and sexual violence by the terrorist organizations on October 7th.” It is important “to make the voices of those who can no longer tell their stories heard.”
Terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups from the Gaza Strip killed around 1,140 people and kidnapped another 250 as hostages in their massacre last October. Israel then attacked the Palestinian coastal strip with massive military force in an attempt to crush the Islamist Hamas.
A United Nations report considers sexual violence to be likely in the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7th. There is "legitimate reason to believe" that rapes and gang rapes occurred in at least three places, it said at the beginning of the month in the paper, which was prepared by the responsible UN representative Pramila Patten after a visit to Israel. There is also “clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexual torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, has been committed against hostages.”
mfh/dpa