Israel-Gaza war: Joe Biden says Hamas raped and mutilated women during October 7 assault
- The US president said accounts of ‘unimaginable cruelty’ had been shared by survivors and witnesses over recent weeks
- He called on international organisations, civil society and individuals to condemn sexual violence ‘without exception’
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that Hamas had repeatedly raped women and mutilated their bodies during its October 7 assault on southern Israel, citing survivors and witnesses of the attacks.
Speaking at a political fundraiser in Boston, Biden said accounts of “unimaginable cruelty” had been shared over the past few weeks.
“Reports of women raped – repeatedly raped – and their bodies being mutilated while still alive, of women’s corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them. It is appalling,” Biden said.
The president called on international organisations, civil society and individuals to condemn sexual violence “without exception”.
Israeli police are investigating possible sexual crimes by some of the few hundred people that they arrested after the October 7 attack. Israel’s justice ministry has said “victims were tortured, physically abused, raped, burned alive, and dismembered.”
In a statement on its Telegram channel, Hamas said it denounced Biden’s “attempt to falsely accuse” its fighters of committing sexual violence and rape on October 7.