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The Civil Commission’s October 7th War Crimes Archive

OUR MISSION

Empower Through Knowledge:

By educating and informing, we empower communities and policymakers to act decisively against gender-based violence.

05 Amplify Silenced Voices

We give a platform to the voiceless, ensuring their experiences are heard, acknowledged, and never forgotten

02 a Path to Healing:

Beyond documenting tragedies, we're committed to healing - advocating for support systems that help survivors rebuild.

06 Advocate for Justice

We tirelessly advocate for the victims, demanding justice and accountability, challenging the world to face and rectify these injustices

03 Influence Global Policies

Striving to reshape international policies, ensuring a safer, just world for women and children

04 Unearth the Truth

Revealing each untold story from October 7th, each narrative we document casts light on shadows ignored.

01

The Civil Commission Archive is the living evidentiary foundation for the Commission’s research, reporting, and advocacy. It preserves digital materials documenting the crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, during captivity, and the ongoing consequences for victims and affected families.
A central focus is documenting sexual and gender-based violence, as well as harms to families including loss, captivity, and long-term trauma. These experiences are often disclosed over time and require focused ethical care and attention.
By safeguarding testimonies and documentation with professional rigor and ethical care, the archive ensures that these critical records remain available for historical memory, research, and the pursuit of international justice.

A Multidimensional Repository: OSINT & CSD

The Civil Commission Archive comprises two primary evidentiary pillars:

• Open-Source Data (OSD): Digital artifacts secured through dedicated Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) operations, capturing real-time digital records of the events.

• Closed-Source Data (CSD): Targeted deposits from first responders, specialized documentation partners, and institutional sources including original witness and survivor testimonies recorded directly by the Commission.

The archive contains filmed testimonies, photographs, videos, and other primary source materials captured by survivors and first responders, circulated online by perpetrators or affiliated channels, or identified through open-source research. Materials are organized by location, victim or witness, type of event, and evidentiary context. This allows patterns to be examined without abstracting individual accounts from the lived experiences they document.

Professional Methodology: EDRM & Archival Stabilization

The archive emerged under extreme urgency. In the immediate aftermath of October 7, the priority was to secure material before it could disappear. This initial phase emphasized collection over structure, reflecting the realities of documenting mass atrocities as they unfold.
As the archive has developed, the Commission has strengthened its documentation systems with reference to the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), an internationally recognized framework for managing digital information so that it can serve as reliable legal evidence over time. EDRM provides structured stages for identifying, preserving, collecting, processing, reviewing, and analyzing materials, supporting their integrity, traceability, and long-term use.
The Commission applies EDRM-informed practices in a manner appropriate to a human rights documentation project, strengthening metadata, review processes, and evidentiary documentation while continuing to collect new materials. This approach distinguishes the archive from rapid field collections by supporting both immediate documentation needs and future legal and scholarly use.

Ethical Stewardship and Survivor-Centered Practices

All archival work is governed by the Commission’s Code of Ethics and Practice and is overseen by an independent academic committee. The Commission conducts its own video testimonies using trauma-informed methodology grounded in both oral history ethics and legal evidentiary standards. Unlike rapid documentation efforts, this approach prioritizes narrator agency, ongoing consent, and the pace at which survivors and witnesses choose to share.

• Survivor Agency: Testifiers retain full control over their stories, including rights to anonymity, confidentiality periods, and withdrawal of consent.
• Violations of Bodily Integrity: The archive contains visual documentation depicting extreme physical trauma. These materials are handled with profound ethical responsibility, respecting both victims and the deceased.

Access Policy

The Civil Commission Archive is not a public database. Access is limited to authorized staff and expert reviewers, with plans for selective access for legal and academic professionals over time.

Leadership and Expertise

The archive is led by Karen Jungblut, an oral historian and digital archivist with more than 25 years of experience in testimony-based documentation. For over two decades, she led the department responsible for the development, indexing, and cataloguing of the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive.

Civil Commission Archive Process

The civil Commission Archive is a living archive, shaped by ongoing testimony, documentation, and analysis.

Trauma-informed practice - Survivor agency - Ongoing consent - Do No Harm

Indentification & Preservation

Capturing and safeguarding materials to prevent loss or deletion, including content recorded during and after October 7.

EDRM: Identification - preventive Preservation

Collection & Organization

Organizing materials through structured intake, indexing, and metadata to support careful review and long-term use.

EDRM: Collection - Processing

Current focus of archival development

Public Reporting & Research Outputs

Commission reports and research publications, including the Kinocide report, based on archived materials.

EDRM: Evidence-informed reporting

[In process]

EDRM is referenced as a guiding evidentiary framework appropriate to a human rights documentation project.