From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 1, 2024
Hamas denies NYT report of rape on Oct. 7, claims Israeli women received ‘good treatment’
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
Hamas denies the New York Times report on the weaponization of rape and sexual violence during the Gaza terror group’s brutal onslaught against Israel on October 7.
In a statement in Arabic and English, Hamas politburo member Basem Naim claims that the Western media and news agencies are “biased to what the Israeli propaganda says [in terms of] lies and slanders against the Palestinians and their resistance.”
Describing the October 7 savagery as “glorious,” Naim falsely claims that the New York Times report was based on accounts given indirectly by “women who said they heard other women repeating these allegations,” but there is “no conclusive evidence” that rapes took place.
In a detailed report published on Thursday, the publication described the systematic sexual violence perpetrated against Israeli women and girls by Palestinian terrorists on October 7, including interviews with more than 150 witnesses, medical personnel, first responders, soldiers, rape counselors, and government officials, along with the scanning of video footage, photographs and GPS data from cellphones. The report contained harrowing details of sexual abuse, mutilation, torture and murder.
Naim further claims that the New York Times piece contradicts testimonies given by Israeli women of the “good treatment they had experienced from the Palestinian fighters on October 7,” and the accounts given by released by Israeli female hostages of the terrorists’ “eagerness to provide them all they needed despite the difficult situation in Gaza,” adding that Islamic values and culture prevent Hamas members from committing such acts.
The Associated Press reported in early December that at least 10 of the Israeli civilians released by Hamas, both men and women, were sexually assaulted or abused while in captivity. Doctors who treated released hostages further reported physical, mental, and psychological abuse, including drugging, beatings, food and water deprivation, and separation of children from their family members.
