大象传媒

Editor鈥檚 Note: The story that follows is not typical of the solutions journalism that 大象传媒 focuses on. The author first submitted a version of this story, centered on debunking a major New York Times investigation, to 大象传媒 and another outlet in early January. In light of the seriousness of the genocide in Gaza, and 大象传媒鈥檚 belief in the importance of fact-based, impactful journalism, we accepted the submission and are proud to present the resulting in-depth investigation. A warning for our readers that descriptions of the alleged rapes and violence are graphic and disturbing. 

Following Hamas鈥� Oct. 7 attacks that , rumors began circulating that Israeli women were experiencing horrific mass rape and sexual violence. Months later, a by Physicians for Human Rights Israel and a that Hamas used rape as a weapon of war. But an investigation by 大象传媒 examining both reports, other media investigations, hundreds of news articles, interviews with Israeli sources, and photo and video evidence reveals a shocking conclusion: There is no evidence mass rape occurred. 

, , , and treat PHRI鈥檚 paper as the gold standard for proof of Hamas鈥� rape and sexual violence. But the paper is shockingly thin. It lacks original reporting and is based on media reports that are dubious at best with no corroboration鈥攏o forensic evidence, no survivor testimony, no video evidence.

During a two-hour-long interview that was heated at times, Hadas Ziv, director of ethics and policy at (PHRI), acknowledged numerous problems with the position paper she co-authored, 鈥溾��&苍产蝉辫;

Ziv admitted credibility problems with sources and that she did not review all available evidence. She was 鈥渦naware鈥� numerous sources had fabricated atrocity stories about Oct. 7. Ziv said, 鈥淵eah, that鈥檚 a problem,鈥� about a soldier she quotes whose claim of rape was changed by the government. She quoted volunteers from that collected human remains after Oct. 7, but Ziv did not realize Zaka openly talks of inventing stories. When discussing claims that women鈥檚 sexual organs were deliberately mutilated, Ziv conceded, 鈥淥K, if there鈥檚 alternative explanations you can鈥檛 say that.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

While admitting 鈥淚 did not know all the stories that you speak about that discredit those witnesses,鈥� Ziv also lashed out: 鈥淚 feel like I鈥檓 a rape victim that鈥檚 being interrogated.鈥� 大象传媒 responded, 鈥淣ot every interview is a friendly interview.鈥澛�

WATCH: Investigative Report Undermines Israel鈥檚 Mass Rape Claims

Further, the PHRI paper is riddled with errors small and large. Names are misspelled, quotes don鈥檛 match links, and an individual is misidentified. Ziv was unaware that it has of rape, which it has not produced publicly. Most egregious, Ziv didn鈥檛 realize her paper counted one alleged gang rape as two separate incidents. 

The New York Times鈥� Dec. 28, 2023, story, 鈥�,鈥� has also been as that sexual violence. 

The cornerstone of that report is Gal and Nagi Abdush, a couple killed on Oct. 7. The Times says Israeli police believe Gal Abdush was raped. But the only evidence given is a 鈥溾�� of Gal鈥檚 burned corpse, 鈥渓ying on her back, dress torn, legs spread, vagina exposed.鈥� Gal became known as 鈥渢he woman in the black dress.鈥� The story in the 罢颈尘别蝉鈥� face. Surviving family members denied she was raped. 

PHRI references the video of Gal Abdush as evidence of possible 鈥渟exual abuse.鈥�

The Times mentioned messages that Gal and Nagi, parents of two children, sent to their family during the attack. After Gal was killed, Nagi sent 鈥渁 final audio message鈥� to his brother Nissim Abdush at 7:44 a.m., 鈥淭ake care of the kids. I love you,鈥� right before he was killed.

But the Times fails to mention other text and phone messages that make it almost impossible Gal was raped. She messaged at 6:51 a.m. about intense explosions on the border, based on an comment by Miral Altar, Gal鈥檚 sister. 

Nine minutes later, at 7:00 a.m., Nagi Abdush called his brother Nissim to say Gal was shot and dying.

Nissim told his story to . He said Nagi never mentioned Gal was raped, nor did Israeli police indicate to the surviving family that Gal was sexually assaulted. The Times never explains how Gal could be captured, raped, fatally shot, and burned to death in nine minutes while Nagi messaged his family and never mentioned any physical contact with Hamas forces.

大象传媒 spoke with Nissim and Neama Abdush, siblings of Nagi. They said Nagi called twice, first to say Gal had been shot in the heart and had died, and then his farewell call asking them to take care of their children. Neama said, 鈥淣o, no, no,鈥� when asked whether Nagi said anything about Gal being attacked or raped.

In a follow-up call, Nissim reiterated the police did not give any indication Gal was sexually assaulted, but he refused to offer any more details unless he was paid 60,000 鈥渄ollars, shekels.鈥�

Tali Barakha, another sister of Gal, , 鈥淣o one can know if there was rape.鈥�

The Dubious Dozen

PHRI鈥檚 paper stated there is 鈥渟ufficient evidence to require an investigation of crimes against humanity.鈥� The New York Times claimed 鈥渁ttacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Yet there are extraordinarily few sources. Twelve individuals account for the vast majority of rape and sexual violence claims in hundreds of articles. 

Eight of these sources are in PHRI鈥檚 paper and six are in The New York Times report. Investigations by , , , , , , , , , and all rely on a combination of these 12 sources.

All but one of the 12 sources are connected to the Israeli military and police, such as the . Five of the sources are Zaka volunteers who told stories that smack of fabrications. Five other sources claimed they saw corpses that bore signs of rape or sexual violence. Not one of these sources was professionally trained to make such assessments, and nearly all fabricated stories, as described below. 

That leaves only two people who claimed they witnessed rape. The government of Israel鈥檚 entire case for mass rape is built on two allegations: a source known as 鈥淲itness S.,鈥� or Sapir, put forward by the police, and an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) special forces soldier, Raz Cohen. The soldier has changed his story numerous times, making it suspect, while Sapir鈥檚 account is so fantastical as to defy belief, as explained below. 

Even if all 12 sources are considered entirely credible, their accounts lack photo and forensic evidence and survivor testimony. At best they are unsubstantiated claims. 

As for evidence, two reports have thrown cold water all over it. First, on Dec. 24 that Israeli police sent a court order to 鈥済eneral and psychiatric hospitals鈥� to 鈥減rovide information on the victims of sexual offenses committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7.鈥� It was a tacit admission that police lack survivor testimony. The court order also undercut that to protect them as unique details would make it simple to identify them. 

Second, an even more revealing published on Jan. 4, 2024, pointed out that 鈥淸t]he police are having difficulty locating victims of sexual assault or witnesses to acts from the Hamas attack, and are unable to connect the existing evidence with the victims described in it.鈥� Police are so desperate they appealed through the media, without success so far, 鈥渢o encourage those who have information on the matter to come and testify.鈥�

United Nations experts have provided some evidence. On Jan. 29, investigating sexual violence on Oct. 7 issued a plea through the Israeli president鈥檚 office for 鈥渧ictims of alleged sexual assault [to] break your silence.鈥� It was met with silence. Then on Feb. 19, said they 鈥渆xpressed alarm over credible allegations鈥� that Israel had subjected hundreds of Palestinian women and girls in Gaza to 鈥渁rbitrary detention,鈥� 鈥渄egrading treatment,鈥� 鈥渕ultiple forms of sexual assault,鈥� including rape, and 鈥渄eliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Extrapolating 鈥淓vidence鈥� From Hearsay

Much of the coverage of Oct. 7 is reminiscent of 9/11 conspiracy theories. Reporters have tried to glean 鈥渢ruth鈥� from ambiguous photos and jumped to conclusions without considering other possibilities. An undressed corpse does not equal sexual assault. Clothes might be torn off while fleeing, in panic, hiding in brush, or dressing wounds. 

The New York Times recounted in Kibbutz Be鈥檈ri, using texts and photos. Caught in a fire, 鈥渢hey stripped to their underwear.鈥� Soldiers later found 鈥渟everal half-naked bodies lying under a line of trees.鈥� The parents and two teenage boys 鈥渉ad all been shot dead.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Similarly, metal fragments in a body does not equal sexual violence. A report on Be鈥檈ri, one of the worst-hit communities on Oct. 7, described how grenade blasts in a safe room turned screws from a sofa into shrapnel that punctured the leg of a 13-year-old girl. If she had not lived would that now be a case of Hamas sexual violence?

Asked about the Reuters report, PHRI鈥檚 Ziv admitted, 鈥淥K, if there鈥檚 alternative explanations you can鈥檛 say that鈥� it was sexual violence. 

Alternative explanations applies to nearly every sexual violence claim in the media. 

Head in Hands

Two witnesses, the anonymous source Sapir and Raz Cohen, provide the most dramatic claims of sexual violence in PHRI鈥檚 paper, , and other media. Sapir and Cohen attended the Supernova music festival and claimed to see gang rapes taking place 50 to 150 feet away from their hiding spots. The Times places them a few miles apart, meaning Sapir and Cohen were describing different assaults.

In early November Israeli a with Sapir鈥檚 face blurred to reporters, but they refused to take questions and have since the entire interview. Reports on the three-minute clip and shorter excerpts were all that was known of Sapir鈥檚 story until The New York Times her 鈥渟everal times.鈥� The Times says Sapir is 鈥渁 26-year-old accountant鈥� 鈥渉as become one of the Israeli police鈥檚 key witnesses.鈥�

The Times said Sapir was wounded in her back and feeling faint. She hid near a road covered 鈥渋n dry grass and lay as still as she could.鈥� She claimed to see a group of 鈥渁bout 100 men鈥� involved in the horrific rape and murder of 鈥渁t least five women.鈥� The Times said:

The first victim she said she saw was a young woman with copper-color hair, blood running down her back, pants pushed down to her knees. One man pulled her by the hair and made her bend over. Another penetrated her, Sapir said, and every time she flinched, he plunged a knife into her back.

She said she then watched another woman 鈥渟hredded into pieces.鈥� While one terrorist raped her, she said, another pulled out a box cutter and sliced off her breast.

鈥淥ne continues to rape her, and the other throws her breast to someone else, and they play with it, throw it, and it falls on the road.鈥� 鈥�

Around the same time, she said, she saw three other women raped and terrorists carrying the severed heads of three more women.

Compare this to what is known of the police video. In a of the police video, Sapir claimed a woman standing on her feet was raped by militants and passed around. Sapir said a militant 鈥渃uts her breasts. He throws it on the road. They are playing with it.鈥�

Referring to the police video, the that Sapir claimed a militant killed the woman and continued to rape her. 鈥淗e 鈥� shot her in the head before he finished. He didn鈥檛 even pick up his pants; he shoots and ejaculates.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

who viewed part of the video said 鈥渟ome terrorists were carrying heads in their hands [beheaded] as trophies, saying there wasn鈥檛 a thing [they] didn鈥檛 do to the heads,鈥� implying that Hamas fighters were having sex with severed heads.

Sapir鈥檚 story and how it changes between the police video and Times report raises many questions. How could she see 100 militants and numerous assaults while lying still, covered? How does one victim of rape become five? Why did one woman who was raped and had her breast cut off in the police video become two women in the Times story?

Given such a slaughter鈥攕evered heads, hacked-off parts, blood sprays, and five mutilated corpses鈥攚here is the forensic and photo evidence? Why are there no witnesses who can verify any of her accounts, such as sex with severed heads and corpses that sound like they are out of Dante鈥檚 Inferno? 

The Times published a defending the Dec. 28 report after it was for and , but it only raised more questions about flimsy reporting.

PHRI鈥檚 position paper bungles Sapir鈥檚 story as well, citing it as two separate incidents. It is first mentioned in the 鈥淰ictims鈥� section as 鈥渁 woman who detailed the group rape and murder of a young woman by assailants dressed in military uniforms.鈥� Then, PHRI cited Sapir鈥檚 story again under 鈥淰isual Testimonies鈥� as it is a video. Hadas Ziv admitted the mistake to 大象传媒, but no other media outlets have picked up PHRI鈥檚 error. 

Changing Stories

Raz Cohen, the second eyewitness to claim he saw rape, is a former Israeli officer from 鈥�.鈥� Neither the original Times report nor PHRI mentions Cohen is an or that his story has changed numerous times. 

Cohen in a streambed with friends after fleeing the Supernova festival. According to , he claimed to see a white van pull up about 40 yards away and five men drag a woman across the ground, 鈥測oung, naked, and screaming.鈥� Cohen said, 鈥淭hey start raping her. I saw the men standing in a half circle around her. One penetrates her. She screams. I still remember her voice, screams without words. Then one of them raises a knife, and they just slaughtered her.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Initially, Cohen鈥檚 story was different. On Oct. 7, he hundreds of terrified people fleeing Hamas gunmen across a field as some were shot and fell. Cohen and others hid for six hours in the bush as gunshots whistled above them and a battle between 鈥渙ur army and the terrorists鈥� raged around them. 

In the next three days, a shaken described similar experiences in and . He said people were 鈥渟laughtered with knives.鈥� The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported in an based on an interview with Cohen that, 鈥淗amas militants stabbed a group of women nearby.鈥� But he made no mention of rape or sexual violence.

Then Cohen鈥檚 story changed. Later in the day in an Oct. 10 appearance, Cohen said on , 鈥淭he terrorists, people from Gaza, raped girls. And after they raped them, they killed them, murdered them with knives, or the opposite, killed鈥攁nd after they raped, they鈥攖hey did that.鈥� In an with the Washington Free Beacon he also claimed a woman was raped and murdered.

It is notable that Cohen鈥檚 story is strikingly similar to Sapir鈥檚: multiple gang rapes, killing with knives, sexual assault of corpses. No major media has picked up on the similarities, nor that the number of victims appears to go from several to one. 

Since both Sapir and Cohen鈥檚 accounts surfaced, a different companion who hid with each one has since come forward. The interviewed both, and their accounts don鈥檛 back up those of Sapir or Cohen. There are of and sexual violence, but the sources or say they 鈥溾�� but rape.

Further undermining Sapir and Cohen are reports on the of at the festival. , , , , , , and reconstructed the killing field using photos, videos, social media, and interviews with dozens of festival goers. It was a horrific slaughter, but no one mentioned torture, sexual violence, or rape. 

Nor have police substantiated Sapir or Cohen鈥檚 stories despite 鈥渙ver 60,000 鈥榲isual documents鈥� including videos from GoPro cameras worn by attackers, CCTV footage and images from drones.鈥� 大象传媒 reviewed every graphic video and photo it could locate, including in a , Israeli , and a of, frankly, snuff films. They show militants, brutal killings, and hundreds of corpses, but nothing like the scenes Sapir or Cohen described. 

Body Bags and Money Grabs

The dearth of evidence of mass rapes has been to that and the gathering of forensic evidence. But other reports indicate Israel manipulated evidence, forensics, and Zaka testimony that all create the appearance of a campaign of mass rape. 

reported Zaka volunteers sidelined soldiers in collecting evidence after Oct. 7. 

[The] IDF decided to forego the deployment of hundreds of soldiers specifically trained in the identification and collection of human remains in mass casualty incidents. Instead, the Home Front Command chose to use Zaka, a private organization.

A Nov. 12 suggests why Zaka took the lead. An information specialist in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu鈥檚 office boasted to Ynet that Zaka testimonies 鈥渉ad a tremendous impact on the reporters鈥� by portraying Hamas as 鈥渉uman-monsters.鈥� That bolstered Israel鈥檚 narrative that 鈥淗amas is equal to Isis 鈥� deepening the legitimacy of the state to act with great force,鈥� the official said.

On top of serving as war propaganda, stories by Zaka volunteers appear invented. This author described in a recent investigation how 鈥� using our imagination鈥� when they recount atrocities and 鈥渢he bodies is telling us the stories that happened to them.鈥� Western media is full of Zaka atrocity claims, nearly all of which are fabrications, dubious, or unsubstantiated.

Even more shocking, Zaka was founded decades ago by , who allegedly over decades before being exposed in 2021. Meshi-Zahav and relatives reportedly used 鈥溾�� to divert from a Zaka into a 鈥溾�� to finance 鈥渁 lavish lifestyle in 5-star hotels and a multi-million dollar villa.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

reported that during Oct. 7 recovery efforts, a financially troubled Zaka used 鈥渢he dead as props鈥� for fundraising. In the process, 贬补鈥檃谤别迟锄 says, Zaka wrecked forensic evidence that could prove or disprove rape claims.

PHRI鈥檚 paper includes testimony from two Zaka volunteers. After being told a few Zaka stories, Hadas Ziv told 大象传媒, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know that they are unreliable. 鈥� But maybe I鈥檓 just trusting people who tell the story as it is and I don鈥檛 look into [it].鈥�

Reuters, CNN, The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, NBC, , , and also quote Zaka volunteers with no mention of past scandals or present controversies.

A Flood of Disinformation

Remaining sources also have credibility problems. One is an paramedic with Unit 669, an elite Israeli search-and-rescue outfit. The soldier claims he found a dead girl, 鈥�14, 15-years-old teenager,鈥� on the floor of a home in a kibbutz. She was 鈥渙n her stomach, her pants are pulled down, and she is half-naked. Her legs are spread out, wide open, and there are remains of sperm on her back. Someone executed her right after he brutally, brutally raped her.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

on Oct. 25 with Republic World, a right-wing Indian , his back to the camera. Ziv in the PHRI paper from the same interview that Eylon Levy tweeted the same day. A spokesperson for Netanyahu, Levy is a . 

In the full interview, 鈥減ulled out of the garbage鈥� a 1-year-old baby 鈥渕ultiple times stabbed all over his body.鈥� He also claimed there were 鈥淎rabic sentences that were written on entrances to houses [with] the blood of the people that were living in those houses.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

One infant was killed on Oct. 7, , 鈥渨ho was shot while in the arms of her mother,鈥� who survived. 

Needless to say, these stories appear to be fabrications as well. More significantly, the paramedic is typical of other major sources. Their claims are wild, there鈥檚 no other witnesses, no independent reporting, no photo or forensic evidence, no information about the deceased.

Further weakening his credibility, the paramedic initially three times as the site of the attack and translated its name as 鈥淩iver of Strength.鈥� , at least 60 soldiers were killed and 12 civilians. Five family members were killed in one home, including two sisters, but they were adults, aged 18 and 20. 

Perhaps realizing none of the victims in Nahal Oz matched the paramedic鈥檚 description, Eylon Levy changed the location to Be鈥檈ri in a and trimmed the clip to cut out all references to Nahal Oz. 

When talking to , , , and , the paramedic only referenced Be鈥檈ri as the location. The number of victims changed as well, hardly a minor point, from to , to , and back to . 

When asked about how she did her research for the PHRI paper, Ziv said, 鈥淚 checked every report that was available to me.鈥� The Republic World interview of the paramedic was available to her as she linked to the short clip Levy tweeted out in the PHRI paper.

After listening to a description of the paramedic鈥檚 false stories, Ziv said, 鈥淣o, I didn鈥檛 see this one.鈥� 大象传媒 asked, 鈥淪o you didn鈥檛 look at all the evidence then?鈥� Ziv responded, 鈥淣o I didn鈥檛, probably.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

Ziv also said, 鈥淵eah, that鈥檚 a problem鈥� about the fact Netanyahu鈥檚 office altered the paramedic鈥檚 story and that he is an anonymous military source. 

Dead Babies

Six of the 12 sources fabricated dead-baby stories, including Shari Mendes. A volunteer military reservist who worked in the Rabbinate Corps at the in Central Israel for two weeks, Mendes helped 鈥渕edics with fingerprinting and cleaning female soldiers鈥� bodies,鈥� according to . 

On Oct. 20, Mendes told , 鈥淎 baby was cut out of a pregnant woman and beheaded and then the mother was beheaded.鈥� Senior personnel at Shura, and retired , also claimed they discovered a pregnant mother killed with her fetus. 

, 鈥淭his horrific incident 鈥� simply didn鈥檛 happen.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

from a . Mendes says, 鈥淵es, we have seen that women have been raped. Children through elderly women have been raped. Forcible entry, to the point that bones were broken.鈥� has also alleged, 鈥淲e saw genitals cut off, heads cut off, babies, hands, feet, no reason.鈥� , 鈥淭his is not just something we saw on the internet, we saw these bodies with our own eyes.鈥�

PHRI cites Capt. Maayan, an IDF reservist and dentist at Shura, from the same article. The Times of Israel wrote:

Maayan said on October 31 that she has seen several bodies that had signs consistent with sexual abuse.

鈥淚 can tell that I saw a lot of signs of abuse in the [genital region],鈥� Maayan said, using her hand to euphemistically demonstrate. 鈥淲e saw broken legs, broken pelvises, bloody underwear,鈥� and women who were not dressed below the waist, she said.

The Times of Israel said Mendes is not 鈥渓egally qualified to determine rape.鈥� Likewise PHRI cautioned that 鈥渆mergency and medical personnel who provided testimonies鈥� were not 鈥減rofessionally trained to determine whether rape had occurred.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

But PHRI tries to have it both ways. It cites claims of rape and sexual abuse from Shari Mendes, Capt. Maayan, the paramedic, Itzik Itah and Simcha Greiniman of Zaka, and its final source, Rami Shmuel, a music festival organizer. 

If these sources can鈥檛 determine rape, why include them? PHRI also says 鈥渢he accounts they provided indicate the perpetration of sexual violence.鈥� What qualifies them to conclude wounds are deliberate signs of sexual violence and not from weapons? 

When asked how were caused by mass rape, Ziv said, 鈥淪he doesn鈥檛, she doesn鈥檛. She can only say that this is what she saw. She can鈥檛 say this is a result of rape.鈥�

So why is Israel seemingly making untrained civilians the face of mass rape claims? At a on Dec. 4, with the help of tech mogul Sheryl Sandberg, Mendes, and Greiniman testified and parts of Sapir鈥檚 video were shown. 

, a in Zaka, claimed naked women were tied to trees at the Supernova festival, with a knife stuck through its head, and he discovered foreign fighters鈥攖hey left their IDs in their pockets. Why did Israel choose to present sources with some of the most bizarre and hard-to-believe stories to the world? 

Why have doctors, pathologists, or soldiers who recovered remains not offered testimony or documentation of rape, sexual assault, or other atrocities? Israel has produced of of Oct. 7 victims. Media were given access to at the National Center of Forensic Medicine on Oct. 16.

On Oct. 14, , , and joined a media tour of organized by Israeli officials. Reuters reported, 鈥淢ilitary forensic teams 鈥� found multiple signs of torture, rape and other atrocities.鈥� Rabbi Israel Weiss, who helped oversee the identification of the dead, said 鈥淢any bodies showed signs of torture as well as rape.鈥� Capt. Maayan said, 鈥淔orensic examination found several cases of rape,鈥� according to Politico.

But, according to Reuters, 鈥淭he military personnel overseeing the identification process didn鈥檛 present any forensic evidence in the form of pictures or medical records.鈥�

Not long after, Zaka volunteers, Shari Mendes, and the Unit 669 paramedic began making a splash in the media. Little has been heard from the forensic experts since.

Tali Shapiro provided research help for this story.