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Biden condemns assault of Israeli women; Netanyahu questions rights organisations, ‘Where are you?’
Several accounts as well as an initial assessment report by an Israeli rights group indicate that sexual assault was among atrocities carried out by Hamas.
US President Joe Biden strongly condemned the reported rape and sexual violence against Israeli girls and women by Palestine's Hamas militant group in the aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israel.
During a campaign fundraiser in Boston, Biden called on the world to unequivocally and without exception denounce such behaviour. He highlighted that female survivors and witnesses of the attacks have recently shared “horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty”.
Biden said, “Reports of women raped — repeatedly raped — and their bodies being mutilated while still alive — of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them. It is appalling.”
Several accounts as well as an initial assessment report by an Israeli rights group were shared with the Associated Press, which indicate that sexual assault was among the atrocities carried out by Hamas militants.
These accounts included — a man, hiding during an attack on an outdoor music festival in Israel, reported hearing someone nearby scream about being raped; a combat paramedic elsewhere in the area observed the body of a young woman with pants pulled down and apparent semen on her lower back.; an army reservist responsible for identifying those killed noted that some women were found only wearing bloodied underwear.
The investigators are yet to assess the sexual assault claims on Israeli hostages. However, the country's government has come forward and accused international agencies of not speaking up on the assaults.
Biden's remarks followed Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's accusations asking international agencies “Where the hell are you”.
Posting a video on X, formerly Twitter, Netanyahu said, “I say to the women's rights organisations, to the human rights organisations: You've heard of the rape of Israeli women, horrible atrocities, sexual mutilation - where the hell are you? I expect all civilized leaders, governments, nations, to speak up against this atrocity.”
Hamas entered Israel on October 7 through motor gliders, trucks and boats wreaking havoc on southern Israel towns killing and taking civilians and Israeli soldiers hostages. In a recently concluded seven-day-long truce, which was extended twice, Israel and Hamas exchanged dozens of hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Speaking at a press conference in Israel's Tel Aviv with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz, Netanyahu said that he met with released hostages. “I heard heartbreaking stories of abuse. I heard, as you have heard, about sexual abuse and unprecedented cases of cruel rape. Were you silent because it was Jewish women?”
Israel's response to Hamas' attack has led to over 16,200 casualties in Gaza, with 70 per cent of them being women and children, and has left over 42,000 people wounded, as reported by the Health Ministry in Gaza on Tuesday. Israel asserts that removing Hamas from power is necessary to prevent a recurrence of the initial attack that sparked the conflict. Until now, nearly 1,200 people were killed in Israel and around 240 men, women, and children were taken captive by Hamas and other militants.
