INTERNACIONAL
Hamas used sexual violence ‘deliberately and systematically’ on Oct 7, commission report finds
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WARNING: This article includes graphic and disturbing accounts from the October 7 massacre in Israel.
Hamas and its Palestinian collaborators used sexual and gender-based violence «deliberately and systematically» as an inherent part of a wider strategy of the 2023 massacres in southern Israel, according to a report released Tuesday by the Civil Commission on Oct. 7 Crimes Against Women and Children.
The Israeli nonprofit said its investigation documented evidence of abuse at multiple sites during the Oct. 7 terror invasion, including the Nova Music Festival, kibbutzim near the Gaza border, Israel Defense Forces bases, among hostages in captivity and in the condition of recovered bodies showing signs consistent with sexual violence.
According to the report, investigators identified at least 13 recurring forms of abuse, including rape, sexual torture, shootings directed at victims’ genital areas and abuse carried out after death.
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A Hamas terrorist is seen walking around a residential neighborhood in southern Israel in undated bodycam footage released by the Israel Defense Forces. The footage was shown to foreign correspondents on Oct. 16, 2023, as part of a 40-minute reel compiled from the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. (Israel Defense Forces/AP)
Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, founder and chair of the Civil Commission and a principal co-author of the report, told Fox News Digital that the greatest challenge in compiling the findings was the team’s repeated exposure to graphic material and the trauma associated with reviewing it on a regular basis.
«We had to not only collect materials, but also review and analyze it alongside forensic experts while witnessing human suffering at its worst,» Elkayam-Levy said. «What motivated us was the denial, the hesitation and the questioning. We wanted to ensure that the world knows what happened to the victims.
«For us, it is a final act of justice for the victims,» she added.
The report also detailed cases in which sexual violence was inflicted in front of or involving family members, including one incident in which relatives were allegedly forced to carry out acts on each other.
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People visit the site of the Nova music festival in Re’im, southern Israel, where revelers were killed in a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The visit took place on Jan. 14, 2024, marking 100 days since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. (Leo Correa/AP)
It further accused Hamas and allied perpetrators of using videos, digital platforms and social media as tools to magnify psychological harm, spread fear and publicize the attacks, including by distributing sexualized material.
Elkayam-Levy said she hopes the findings will not remain confined to academics, human rights organizations or activists, but will also be studied by counterterrorism and national security experts to better understand and confront such atrocities.
«We cannot prevent what we do not fully understand,» Elkayam-Levy said. «No single prosecution could ever capture the full magnitude of these crimes in the way this report does. It is therefore critical that policymakers, decision-makers, members of Congress and senators find ways to formally recognize these findings and hold hearings so we can begin addressing this issue. We want the findings of this report to receive formal institutional recognition.»
The report, Elkayam-Levy noted, underscores that victims of the Oct. 7 atrocities came from 52 countries, highlighting the global scope and impact of the attack.
Witness testimony cited in the report included an account of a woman being sexually assaulted before being beheaded. Another witness described seeing a woman dragged from a vehicle, pinned against a wall, repeatedly raped and then stabbed, with the assault allegedly continuing after her death.
In another case, a witness described discovering the body of a man whose genitals had been severed, lying beside the body of a woman holding them, in what the report described as an apparent effort to degrade and humiliate the victims.
A Hamas terrorist is seen walking around a residential neighborhood in southern Israel in undated bodycam footage released by the Israel Defense Forces amid the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces/AP)
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Investigators said some female victims were found naked or partially unclothed, with evidence of severe mutilation and objects including grenades, nails and household tools inserted into their bodies. The report also cited gunshot wounds, cuts and burn injuries concentrated on intimate areas.
The report said some female bodies brought to morgues showed broken pelvises or legs, bloodied underwear and additional trauma to the abdomen or groin.
Former hostages, both women and men, have also testified to rape, sexual torture and other forms of abuse during abduction or captivity, according to the report. It said some female captives reported sexual assaults while receiving treatment in Gaza hospitals for injuries sustained during the attacks.
A bloodied handprint stains a wall inside a house in the Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza border after a Hamas attack days earlier. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Male hostages likewise described sexual abuse while in captivity, including assaults in showers and incidents carried out under armed threat while victims were naked, the report said. One former hostage recounted being sexually assaulted when a captor forcibly rubbed his genitals against the victim’s anus.
Last month, former hostage Rom Braslavski recounted the abuse he said he endured during captivity in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.
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«They would hit me with whatever they had on hand. I underwent severe torture, bondage and sexual abuse. Everything they could do to me, they did. My body is still covered in scars. After four months of torture, I was clinically dead, rolling my eyes and passing out. They decided to stop the violence and brought doctors to treat me with injections and gave me food again,» he said.
The report said sexual and gender-based violence was «widespread and systematic» and constituted an «integral component» of both the Oct. 7 attacks and the subsequent treatment of captives, while calling the prosecution of such crimes an «urgent» priority to be pursued through international accountability mechanisms.
A soldier of the Military Rabbinate unit opens a container holding bodies killed during the Hamas attack on Israel’s southern border as identification continues at the Shura army base in Ramle, Israel, on Oct. 24, 2023. (Amir Levy/Getty Images)
Among its recommendations, the commission called for targeted sanctions against individuals and entities accused of carrying out or materially supporting the Oct. 7 attack and its aftermath. It also urged action against what it described as denial, minimization or politicization of the sexual crimes committed during the massacre and in captivity.
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«The Commission further recommends that Israel adopt a comprehensive gender strategy within its prosecutorial framework and establish a specialized chamber or panel of judges dedicated to the prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes committed on October 7th and during captivity,» the report said.
Elkayam-Levy said the report has received widespread international attention, including front-page coverage in U.S. and global media outlets. «We feel the discussion has shifted from questioning whether these crimes occurred to examining their consequences,» she said. «There is now a substantial legal evidentiary foundation preserved in a secure archive that cannot be denied.»
anti semitism, rape, sex crimes, hamas, mass murder, terrorism, israel
INTERNACIONAL
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Details of Todd Blanche’s behind-the-scenes meeting with Angel Mom revealed after Capitol Hill testimony
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EXCLUSIVE: An Illinois Angel Mom whose daughter died after a tragic encounter with an illegal alien last year revealed to Fox News Digital details of a conversation she had with President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee that convinced her he’s the man for the job.
«I immediately felt so pulled towards him,» Jennifer Bos said, speaking about Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. «You get a certain energy from people, and he is just the kindest… He listened to my story very intently, and you could just see his mind ticking like, ‘what are we going to do about this?’»
Bos’ daughter, Megan Bos, was just 37 when she was found dead in April 2026, stuffed in a garbage can and soaked in bleach, 51 days after she disappeared. An illegal alien from Mexico, Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, was charged with several felonies in relation to Megan’s death after her body was found on his property.
Jennifer Bos, mother of Megan Bos, speaks during the second day of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 16, 2026. President Donald Trump’s pick to be the next attorney general is his former personal defense lawyer Todd Blanche. (Ken Cedeno/AFP via Getty Images)
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Mendoza-Gonzalez is accused of abuse of a corpse, two counts of concealing the death of a person and obstructing justice. He claims Megan overdosed, and insists he had nothing to do with her death.
Due to Illinois’ sanctuary policies, Mendoza-Gonzalez walked free after an initial hearing, infuriating Jennifer. He was tracked down and re-arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Indiana in July 2026, just days after Jennifer shared her tragic story with Trump when they crossed paths at an anti-fentanyl bill signing.
Jennifer and her husband are now raising Megan’s daughter, who was five years old when her mother died.
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Jennifer Bos, mother of Megan Bos, speaks on Capitol Hill during Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing for U.S. attorney general on July 16, 2026, in Washington, D.C. During Blanche’s tenure as acting attorney general, the Justice Department has been under scrutiny for pushing President Trump’s $1.8 billion «anti-weaponization» fund and its handling of the Epstein files. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Though, as Jennifer noted, there is nothing Blanche can do to help her family specifically, since her daughter has already tragically died, she is confident the attorney general nominee understands the plight of Angel Families everywhere.
«We’re trying to make a difference for people who haven’t been touched by this kind of tragedy, who haven’t been touched be the violence that can be from an illegal immigrant,» Jennifer said.
She said she thinks Blanche, placed as acting attorney general after Pam Bondi’s ouster, is «being true to the job he’s supposed to do.»
«I trust that he’s doing the right thing for the right reasons,» she continued.
Jennifer testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee just 24 hours after Democrats on the committee attempted to shred Blanche’s credibility, and paint him as a personal yes-man for Trump.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche gets sworn in at his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
She told Fox News Digital those same Democrats have completely ignored families whose lives have been forever altered by the death of a relative at the hands of an illegal alien, including hers. She didn’t speak to any Democrats on the panel before her Thursday testimony.
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«You know, before President Trump came into office, Angel Families were inconvenient truths,» she said. «They didn’t want to acknowledge the damage that was being done by having open borders and by having people here illegally, that they couldn’t track, they couldn’t identify.»
She described Republicans and independents as «welcoming,» and said they’re always open to meetings and helping Angel Families tell their stories.
Jennifer came face-to-face with her own senator, Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who is the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, during Thursday’s hearing.
Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, during a hearing in Washington, D.C., US, on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. The hearing is titled «A Post-Roe America: The Legal Consequences of the Dobbs Decision.» (Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
«I was very frustrated listening to my own senator when he addressed me directly, giving his apologies, because all I could think of was, you know, I’ve been out in the public, I’m everywhere, I have been for the last year and a half, yet never once has he said anything to me, reached out to me or anything of the like,» said Jennifer.
She said the issue of illegal alien crime is «very nonpartisan,» noting that it can happen to anyone regardless of political ideology and expressing disappointment that both sides of the political aisle can’t come together to solve the problem.
Jennifer did say that Durbin approached her to chat after the hearing, and that she is hopeful the pair can collaborate on solutions in the future.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a proclamation dedicating February 22nd as Angel Family Day during a remembrance ceremony held in the East Room at the White House February 23, 2026, in Washington, DC. The term «Angel Families» is used to describe people who have lost a relative to a crime committed by an undocumented immigrant. (Win McNamee / Getty Images)
During the hearing, Jennifer said Blanche is listening to Angel Families, and that they’re «being taken seriously.»
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«I’m asking the committee not to wait until another mother is sitting where I am, confirmed Todd Blanche,» she said. «He is a leader who will uphold the law, honor victims, confront dangerous criminal organizations, and fight to give other American families the safety and lasting protection that came too late for mine.»
«I couldn’t save my daughter. But Todd Blanche as attorney general, he might save yours because next time, it could be your child. It could be your family. It could be you.»
illegal immigrants, politics, todd blanche, attorney general, senate
INTERNACIONAL
La ola de calor elevó la mortalidad en Europa: se reportaron al menos 12.000 muertes adicionales en junio
Una decena de países europeos registró en conjunto al menos 12.000 muertes adicionales durante la ola de calor de junio, según una recopilación de datos oficiales realizada por la agencia de noticias AFP. Se trata de un balance preliminar que podría aumentar a medida que se completen las estadísticas.
Entre el 22 y el 28 de junio, período en el que la ola de calor alcanzó su punto máximo en varios países, institutos nacionales de Alemania, Francia, Bélgica, España, Países Bajos, Suiza y Luxemburgo registraron cerca de 10.000 muertes por encima de lo esperado.
A esta recopilación de datos oficiales realizada por AFP se suman 2.200 muertes relacionadas con la ola de calor en Inglaterra y Gales, según estimaciones publicadas por el servicio meteorológico británico, la Met Office, que abarcan un período ligeramente más amplio, del 18 al 28 de junio.
Los datos preliminares de la plataforma europea de monitoreo de la sobremortalidad EuroMOMO también indican un aumento significativo durante esa última semana de junio, con 14.260 muertes por encima de lo esperado.
Este modelo estadístico se basa en los datos oficiales de 24 países que representan a cerca de 400 millones de habitantes.
Una persona se refresca en una fuente en el Trocadero, cerca de la Torre Eiffel, durante la ola de calor en París el 24 de junio de 2026. (Foto: AP)
“El verano aún no ha terminado”, advirtió este jueves el director regional de la OMS para Europa, Hans Henri Kluge. “Contamos con las herramientas para evitar estas muertes”.
Actualmente, “demasiados gobiernos siguen considerando el calor como un fenómeno meteorológico en lugar de una emergencia de salud pública”, agregó en un comunicado.
“Dramático”
Hasta el momento, esta semana de junio es la que registra un mayor exceso de mortalidad desde que comenzaron estos registros armonizados de EuroMOMO en 2020.
De todas las semanas del verano boreal de los últimos siete años, esta “semana 26” de 2026 solo es superada por otra en julio de 2022 durante la pandemia de covid-19.
“Hasta donde sabemos, no hay otras causas para esta mortalidad excesiva más que el calor, y esto es bastante dramático”, explicó a la AFP Lasse Vestergaard, epidemiólogo del centro de investigación danés Statens Serum Institut y coordinador de EuroMOMO.
El experto califica esta tendencia como “muy inusual”, pero pide cautela en la interpretación de las cifras más recientes. EuroMOMO considera que son necesarias cuatro semanas para consolidar las estimaciones. El balance preliminar de fallecidos puede aumentar a medida que se completen las estadísticas. (Foto: AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Las olas de calor de junio habrían sido casi imposibles sin el cambio climático, de acuerdo con el grupo de científicos World Weather Attribution.
Miles de muertos en Alemania
Los métodos utilizados para contabilizar el exceso de mortalidad por el calor suelen diferir entre países.
En el caso de España, el sistema de vigilancia de la mortalidad del Centro Nacional de Epidemiología utilizado por el Ministerio de Sanidad atribuyó 610 muertes al calor entre el 22 y el 28 de junio, de las cuales casi dos tercios correspondieron a personas mayores de 85 años.
Alemania registró 5.780 muertes adicionales durante la semana 26 del año en comparación con el promedio de los tres años anteriores, según cálculos basados en las cifras de la Oficina Federal de Estadística (Destatis).
En comparación con las dos semanas anteriores, Destatis contabilizó 7.100 muertes adicionales.
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En Francia, se registraron más de 2.000 muertes adicionales esa misma semana en comparación con la anterior, según la Agencia Nacional de Salud Pública.
En Bélgica, el instituto científico público Sciensano registró 750 muertes en exceso solo entre el 27 y el 28 de junio, de un total de 1.747 entre el 18 de junio y el 1 de julio, una cifra récord durante una ola de calor en el siglo XXI.
Un análisis de AFP de los datos del Instituto Neerlandés de Salud Pública y Medio Ambiente (RIVM) muestra casi 600 muertes por encima de lo esperado en los Países Bajos entre el 22 y el 28 de junio, y unas 220 en Suiza durante el mismo período, según las cifras de la Oficina Federal de Estadística.
Varios países de Europa Central y del Este, también afectados por la ola de calor de junio, entre ellos Eslovaquia y Hungría, aún no han publicado datos preliminares.
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