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‘Bodies in severe stages of abuse’: Tel Aviv claims Hamas tortured, raped Israelis
Hamas has denied any accusation of abuse.
Israeli officials on Saturday claimed that their military forensic teams have found multiple signs of torture, rape and other atrocities on the bodies of those attacked by Palestine-based militant group Hamas on October 7, reported Reuters.
Hamas, backed by a barrage of rockets, attacked Israeli towns from the blockaded Gaza Strip, on October 7. They fired indiscriminately at a large outdoor party as well as homes and military bases, killing more than 120 Israelis and foreigners. They also abducted 120 persons. Follow Israel-Hamas war LIVE updates here.
Tel Aviv in retaliatory airstrikes has killed over 2,300 Palestinians, including 600 children. It has warned Gazans to evacuate and flee ‘immediately’ and is preparing a ground invasion. Some 4,23,000 Gazans have been displaced, of whom 60% are taking shelter with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
Israel has kept the bodies of those killed in the attack at an army base in Ramla in central Israel to determine the identity of the dead and the circumstances of their death.
Former army chief rabbi Israel Weiss told Reuters that around 90% of the military dead have been identified and teams are halfway through identifying civilians.
Reserve warrant officer, Avigayil, said several bodies were dismembered and multiple cases of rape were found during forensic examination.
"We have seen dismembered bodies with their arms and feet chopped off, people that were beheaded, a child that was beheaded," Avigayil told reporters, according to Reuters.
Captain Maayan, a military dentist, said that they have been carrying out identification by all means.
"We see them (the bodies) in severe stages of abuse. We see gunshots and we see signs that are pure torture."
The military personnel overseeing the identification process, however, have not shared any forensic evidence in the form of pictures or medical records. On its part, Hamas has denied any accusation of abuse.
