Biden calls reports of Hamas' sexual violence against Israeli women 'appalling' [View all]

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https://abcnews.go.com/International/biden-calls-reports-hamas-sexual-violence-israeli-women/story?id=105401641

He said they needed to be condemned "without equivocation, without exception."
ByLibby Cathey
December 6, 2023, 11:14 AM

President Joe Biden has blamed Hamas' refusal to release civilian female hostages for the end of a temporary cease-fire, and he called reports of women allegedly sexually assaulted by Hamas "appalling."

"We had a report in the earliest days that Hamas used rape to terrorize women and girls during the attack on October the 7th in Israel," Biden said, according to pool reports of his remarks Tuesday at a closed-door fundraiser in the Boston area.

"Over the past few weeks, survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared the horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty," he 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."...

"Ending violence against women and sexual assault has been one of the causes of my life. … But the world can't just look away at what's going on. It's on all of us -- government, international organizations, civil society and businesses -- to forcefully condemn the sexual violence of Hamas terrorists without equivocation. Without equivocation, without exception," Biden said.