London rally calls for release of women being held by Hamas

Several dozen people rally in London to draw attention to women still being held hostage by Hamas and to the issue of sexual violence.

According to Jerusalem deputy mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, between 17 and 20 women and girls are still being held by the group after its October 7 attack on Israel.

“All we know is that every day that they remain in captivity, their condition gets worse and there’s less of a chance that they’ll come out,” she says.

She says she has met mothers of captives who fear that, after 18 weeks, some may be pregnant from rapes they might have been subject to.

“We need to get them out now so that we can do something about it,” she says.

Banners saying that “rape is not resistance” are waved at the rally, and some protesters wear sweatpants with stains between their legs.

The march is held near the offices of the BBC, which the organizers of the march feel has not done enough to cover alleged sexual violence during Hamas’s rampage.