'Screams Before Silence': Ex-Meta COO Releases Documentary Detailing Hamas Sex Crimes On, After Oct 7 Attack

A documentary about sexual crimes perpetrated by Hamas on and after October 7 has been published on YouTube, featuring testimonies from survivors, released hostages and first responders.

Excerpts from a long video, led by ex-Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, who is one of the most high-profile women in the tech industry, have been shown recently. These clips include talks with women who were hostages and set free during a truce in November, The Times of Israel reported.

The aim of the film, titled ‘Screams Before Silence’ is to highlight sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas during and after the attack on Israel, when members of the Palestinian outfit killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 253. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 34,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry.

‘Screams Before Silence’

Warning — the documentary includes graphic content

UN Report and EU Sanctions

In March, the UN published a report indicating that rape and gang rape likely occurred during the October 7 onslaught, and said that there is “clear and convincing" evidence showing that hostages were raped while being held in Gaza and that those currently held captive are still facing such abuse. Hamas continues to deny these allegations.

Earlier this month, the European Union imposed sanctions on the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad for “widespread" sexual violence during the October 7 attacks on Israel. The bloc said fighters from the two Palestinian groups — already on the EU’s terrorism blacklist — “committed widespread sexual and gender-based violence in a systematic manner, using it as a weapon of war".

The decision to impose the sanctions was part of an agreement among EU states that will now see the bloc blacklist violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The EU said that the abuses by Hamas fighters included “the rape and subsequent murder of female minors, mutilation of corpses as well as genital mutilation". It also accused the assailants of the “targeted abduction of women and girls".

(With agency inputs)