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US President Joe Biden has called for global condemnation of “horrific” sexual violence by Hamas in the October 7 attacks in Israel.
His comments come after campaigners in Israel criticized what they view as a hushed international response to gender-based violence during the attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed.
“The world can’t just look away at what’s going on,” Biden told his audience at a campaign event in Boston.
“It’s on all of us — government, international organizations, civil society and businesses — to forcefully condemn the sexual violence of Hamas terrorists without equivocation.”
“Over the past few weeks, survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared the horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty,” including rape, mutilation and the desecration of bodies, he said.
“Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them. It is appalling.”
In response, Israel has vowed to destroy the group, which is classifed as a terrorist group by the US, Germany and EU among others.
Israel has carried out airstrikes and a ground offensive that, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run government, have killed more than 16,200 people, mostly women and children.
Speaking on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had heard stories of sexual abuse at a meeting with hostages returned from Gaza by Hamas during a recent pause in the fighting.
“I heard, and you also heard, about sexual abuse and incidents of brutal rape like nothing else,” he told a news conference.
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