Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he had heard stories of sexual abuse at a meeting with hostages returned by Hamas during a recent pause in the fighting in Gaza.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
"I heard, and you also heard, about sexual abuse and incidents of brutal rape like nothing else," he told a news conference, before expressing outrage over feminist groups who have largely stayed silent on the sexual atrocities Hamas perpetrated.
"Where the hell are you," Netanyahu lambasted human rights organizations on rape of Israeli women.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that Hamas had repeatedly raped women and mutilated their bodies during its Oct.7 assault on southern Israel, citing survivors and witnesses of the attacks.
Video: PM vows to exact immense price from Hamas in Diplomatic-Security Cabinet meeting Credit: Twitter/@Israelipm
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 organizations, civil society, and individuals to condemn sexual violence "without exception."
Video: IDF and ISA forces revealed a significant 55-meter-long terrorist tunnel / Credit: X/@idf
Israeli police are investigating possible sexual crimes by some of the few hundred people that they arrested after the Oct. 7 attack. Israel's justice ministry has said "victims were tortured, physically abused, raped, burned alive, and dismembered."
Hamas vigorously denies the allegations of sexual assault or mutilation by members of its armed wing on Oct. 7 or after that.
Israel held an event at the United Nations in New York on Monday focused on sexual violence against women during the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has been critical of the world body's response to the attacks.
Video: PM Netanyahu slams women's groups over their silence // Credit: x/@israelipm
"As a global community, we must respond to weaponized sexual violence, wherever it happens, with absolute condemnation. There can be no justification and no excuses. Rape as a weapon of war is a crime against humanity," former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the event in a pre-recorded video.
On Tuesday, Biden blamed Hamas for the collapse of a truce last week that had halted Israel's retaliatory military campaign against Gaza, saying the terrorist group's "refusal to release the remaining young women is what broke this deal".
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of wrecking negotiations to extend the week-long pause in fighting, which resumed on Dec. 1.
Since then, Israeli forces have expanded their ground operations on Hamas-run Gaza and stormed its main southern city. Gaza health officials say 16,248 people have been killed in Israel's attacks.
Hamas fighters who rampaged through Israeli towns on Oct. 7 murdered 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages, according to Israel's tally. More than 100 hostages were freed during the truce.
During the fundraiser, Biden said: "Everyone still being held hostage by Hamas needs to be returned to their families immediately. We're not going to stop."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
