How 2 Debunked Accounts of Sexual Violence on Oct. 7 Fueled a Global Dispute Over Israel-Hamas War

Chaim Otmazgin had tended to dozens of shot, burned or mutilated bodies before he reached the home that would put him at the center of a global clash.

Working in a kibbutz that was ravaged by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Otmazgin — a volunteer commander with ZAKA, an Israeli search and rescue organization — saw the body of a teenager, shot dead and separated from her family in a different room. Her pants had been pulled down below her waist. He thought that was evidence of sexual violence.

He alerted journalists to what he’d seen. He tearfully recounted the details in a nationally televised appearance in the Israeli Parliament. In the frantic hours, days and weeks that followed the Hamas attack, his testimony ricocheted across the world.

But it turns out that what Otmazgin thought had occurred in the home at the kibbutz hadn’t happened.

Beyond the numerous and well-documented atrocities committed by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, some accounts from that day, like Otmazgin’s, proved untrue.

“It’s not that I invented a story,” Otmazgin told The Associated Press in an interview, detailing the origins of his initial explosive claim — one of two by ZAKA volunteers about sexual violence that turned out to be unfounded.

“I couldn’t think of any other option” other than the teen having been sexually assaulted, he said. “At the end, it turned out to be different, so I corrected myself.”

But it was too late.

The United Nations and other organizations have presented credible evidence that Hamas militants committed sexual assault during their rampage. The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said Monday he had reason to believe that three key Hamas leaders bore responsibility for “rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity.”

Though the number of assaults is unclear, photo and video from the attack’s aftermath have shown bodies with legs splayed, clothes torn and blood near their genitals.

However, debunked accounts like Otmazgin’s have encouraged skepticism and fueled a highly charged debate about the scope of what occurred on Oct. 7 — one that is still playing out on social media and in college campus protests.

Some allege the accounts of sexual assault were purposely concocted. ZAKA officials and others dispute that. Regardless, AP’s examination of ZAKA’s handling of the now debunked stories shows how information can be clouded and distorted in the chaos of the conflict.

🔗SOURCE ➡️ AP

Related: 4/24 — More Claims of 'Hamas Mass Rape' Proven False: Report

4/17 — Israel Hinders UN Query Into 7 Oct Events

3/27 — Lawyer Behind 'Hamas Rape' Claims Exposed as Fraud

3/14 — On Israel and Rape — The Cradle

3/7 — Western Media Promoted A UN Report As Proof Hamas Sexually Assaulted Israelis

2/23 — New Israeli Report Alleging "Systematic and Intentional Rape" by Hamas Relies on Debunked Western Media Reports

2/1 — Israeli Army, Police Repeat False Claims of Hamas Atrocities

However, Haaretz reported that the incidents described in the interview never took place.
Haaretz reported there is no survivor of Germany’s World War II concentration camps named Genia in Be'eri

1/4 — Washington Post Erases Israeli Minister’s Farfetched October 7 Rape Claim at His Request

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