Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, Chair of the Civil Commission, presented the findings of the commission’s report on Hamas’s sexual crimes committed during the October 7 massacre and while holding hostages captive to the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Annual Discussion on Women’s Rights in Geneva on Friday.

The report, titled Silenced No More, was prepared with the cooperation of international experts in international law and human rights. Elkayam-Levy described it as identifying 13 distinct patterns of abuse, including rape, gang rape, sexual torture, deliberate burning, and the intentional mutilation of victims’ faces and genitals. She said the commission coined a new term—“kinocidal sexual violence”—to describe the deliberate use of sexual violence to torture families and maximize victims’ pain and suffering.

Elkayam-Levy also addressed what she said was global denial of these crimes, saying the commission “encountered silence, hesitation,” and “active and aggressive denial” in response to early reports. She warned that avoiding the report’s findings would harm victims and future generations, arguing the issue is not only about the past but about preventing dangerous developments in contemporary terrorism.

She called on the UN to take action by recognizing the report’s findings and applying compassion without conditions, warning against a “double standard” toward Israeli women. UN Watch’s executive director Hillel Neuer echoed those concerns, saying Israeli victims did not receive compassion or protection and instead faced hatred and institutions that he said enable it. Neuer added that the UN’s response would determine whether it applies the same standards of compassion, credibility, and accountability to Israeli victims that it demands for others.