A new report published today (Tuesday) details the atrocities inflicted on families in southern Israel during the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023. The report gives a name to what it terms the "weaponization of families" by Hamas terrorists during that attack, which it calls "Kinocide."
Kinocide: The Weaponization of Families, was written by Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, Dr. Michal Gilad and Dr. Ilya Rudyak from the Civil Commission on Oct. 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children and co-authored with the Canadian Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, led by the renowned jurist Prof. Irwin Cotler.
The report found that "systematic and widespread attack on families" were committed on October 7.
"Evidence demonstrates at least six different patterns of abuse, including violence in the presence of family members, the annihilation of entire families, and the use of social media to broadcast abuses, amplifying the psychological trauma," it states.
The report further states that the terrorists "specifically targeted" the family unit to produce effects "rippling through communities and society at large.
"To encapsulate the unique evil of such attacks," the new term Kinocide, "denoting the weaponization of families and the exploitation of familial bonds as a distinct form of violence," was introduced.
Specific cases mentioned in the report included the murder of 18-year-old Ma'ayan Idan in front of her parents and siblings and the subsequent absuction of her father Tzachi to Gaza.
In another case, Roee Idan and his wife Smadar were murdered in front of their children. The older children hid in a closet with their mother's body as the youngest child, three-year-old Abigail, was abducted to Gaza.
These are only some of the many instances of parents being murdered in front of their children and children being murdered in front of their parents.
The report called on the international community to form an independent expert panel to establish a complete definition of Kinodice in order to codify it as an international crime and ensure that perpetrators can be prosecuted and brought to justice.