First male survivor of rape from October 7 Nova festival attack speaks out about his ordeal, describing the horrors of being ‘pinned down’ and ‘spit on’ as he was attacked by ‘laughing’ Hamas terrorists

The first male survivor of the October 7 Nova festival rape attack to speak out about the ordeal has described the horrors he endured.

The man, whose name is given only by the initial D, told Israel’s Channel 12 news that his attackers pinned him to the ground after they attacked a music festival he was attending in the desert in southern Israel.

‘You try to resist, but they take off your clothes, laugh at you, humiliate you, spit on you, touch you [private] “I will rape you,” he said when he first spoke about the attack.

He said he tried to flee the Hamas attack but was captured by fighters from the terror group’s elite Nukhba unit.

“There’s a circle, they’re laughing, and you don’t know what to do at that moment, whether to resist or let it pass, how to deal with the situation. It was a very brutal rape,” D said in the interview about the horrific ordeal.

File footage of festival-goers fleeing as Hamas gunmen storm the Nova music festival on October 7 last year

Charred and damaged cars line a desert road after an attack by Hamas militants on the Tribe of Nova Trance music festival near Kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel on Saturday, October 7

Footage showed revellers at the Nova festival dancing to music as Hamas fighters used paragliders to launch their attack

He said his attackers only stopped when more Hamas fighters arrived and shouted for them. D described his attackers as “wildly drunk” as they celebrated and laughed while brandishing their guns and knives.

He said that while he tried to distance himself from the rape, he also experienced it as “very intense” and found it “very difficult.”

D miraculously escaped when Israeli troops arrived, forcing the Hamas terrorists to retreat back to Gaza. Other victims of sexual attacks on October 7 were killed before they could speak of the horrors they endured.

“In the beginning I shut down completely; I was a lot less active,” D told Channel 12, adding that he had developed obsessive tendencies, such as showering over and over again “to wash away what had happened.”

He also said that the horrible memories of the rape surfaced during conversations with other people.

D’s report on the rape has been handed over to an Israeli police unit investigating sexual abuse by Hamas fighters on October 7.

He was also one of dozens of survivors who filed a lawsuit against the state of Israel earlier this year, in which the plaintiffs are seeking more than £100 million from their government.

Lawyers representing the group of survivors said they feel abandoned by the state and that many visitors to the Nova festival can no longer work because of what they experienced on October 7.

This follows a report in February that Hamas terrorists had raped and mutilated Israeli civilians, creating an “apocalypse of bodies” without limbs at the venue of the Nova music festival.

Destroyed cars and personal belongings are still strewn across the festival grounds, pictured on October 13

An Israeli soldier stands by the body of a Hamas militant in Kibbutz Be’eri on Wednesday, October 11, 2023

The kindergarten in Be’eri, which appeared to be the scene of fighting on October 7, 2023 when Hamas fighters overran the kibbutz

The horrific report details “sadistic” crimes allegedly committed during the festival, in surrounding villages, on Israeli bases and in captivity in Gaza.

It describes the violence endured by men and women, some of whom were allegedly murdered while being beaten, while others were forced to watch their friends and family members being sexually abused before being killed.

The chilling report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel was presented to the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict areas, who visited Israel in early February to hear testimonies of sexual abuse.

A summary of the findings states: ‘Hamas terrorists used sadistic practices aimed at increasing the level of humiliation and terror inherent in sexual violence.

‘Many bodies of victims of sexual crimes were found bound and handcuffed.

‘The genitals of both women and men were brutally mutilated, and sometimes weapons were inserted into them. The terrorists did not stop at shooting, they also cut off genitals and other body parts and mutilated them with knives.’

The testimonies allege, among other things, that Hamas fighters repeatedly stabbed a wounded woman while raping her; that victims had nails, grenades and knives lodged in their genitals; and that survivors who fled the festival “saw girls whose pelvises were simply broken from the brutal rape.”

The report concluded that Hamas rebels systematically targeted women and men in villages and kibbutzim during the attacks and executed victims during or after incitement to sexual abuse.

According to Orit Sulitzeanu, CEO of ARCCI, partners, family members and friends were often forced to watch horrific acts in groups, to “increase the pain and humiliation for all present.”

Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack on Israel involved rape and sexual violence, a United Nations report has concluded. Pictured: An Israeli soldier walks through items left behind by fleeing festival-goers at the Nova music festival site, October 12, 2023

Destroyed cars and belongings left behind at the site of the Supernova Music Festival, where hundreds of people were killed and dozens taken by Hamas militants near the Gaza border, on October 12, 2023

The ARCCI report, which examines documented cases of abuse on and since October 7, concludes that the Hamas attack “included violent rapes accompanied by threats with weapons and in some cases targeting injured women.”

The authors noted that rape was “often” committed in front of an audience of partners, family members or friends, to “increase the pain and humiliation for all present.”

Meanwhile, a UN report published in March said there was “clear and convincing” information showing that conflict-related sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, had taken place by Hamas members on October 7.

According to the UN, such attacks took place at at least three locations in southern Israel, including the Nova music festival, the site of one of the October 7 massacres.

Pramila Patten, the UN envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict, also described detailed witness accounts of two incidents in which the corpses of women were raped.

The evidence supporting the report was based on personal accounts from released hostages, she said, adding that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that such violence is ongoing.”

According to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures, Hamas killed 1,197 people, mostly civilians, during its assault on southern Israel on October 7.

The militants also captured 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza. According to the Israeli military, 44 are dead.

At least 39,090 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military retaliation in Gaza, according to figures from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-ruled territory.