Biden rips Hamas for ‘repeatedly raping’ women and girls and ‘mutilating their bodies while they were still alive’: President launches scathing attack on reported atrocities by terrorist group

President Joe Biden used strong language to describe the “unimaginable brutality” of Hamas militants during their Oct. 7 rampage, citing reports of repeated rapes and desecrations of Israelis.

Biden issued the comments in Boston on a day he holds three fundraising events for his presidential campaign following renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas following a humanitarian pause that allowed for the release of about 100 hostages from the Gaza Strip.

“Before I begin, let me say a few words about what is happening in Israel now. The terror that Hamas continues to inflict on the Israeli people,” Biden said. “From the very beginning, we had the message that Hamas used rape to terrorize women and girls during the October 7 attack in Israel.

“Over the past few weeks, survivors and witnesses of the attacks have shared horrific accounts of unimaginable brutality. Reports of rape and repeated rape of women, mutilation of their bodies while they were alive, desecration of women’s corpses, and Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then killing them. It’s terrible,” he said.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday spoke of “unimaginable brutality” and cited reports that Hamas militants raped Israeli women during the Oct. 7 attack. He criticized Hamas for shirking the humanitarian pause and continuing to hold women civilians hostage.

Biden, who helped craft the Violence Against Women Act while serving in the Senate, called ending sexual violence “one of the reasons I live.”

He said the burden was on “all of us” to “strongly and unequivocally condemn sexual violence by Hamas terrorists.” No ambiguity, no exceptions.”

“These are civilian women, mostly between the ages of 20 and 39, whom Hamas refused to release under the cessation of hostilities agreement that I helped the Qataris negotiate. I spent hours with the Qataris and others to mediate, support and extend this deal. I have freed more than 100 hostages,” Biden said.

He spoke after a series of independent media reports cataloged proof from rape during the terrorist attack on October 7.

Then on Monday he repeated his national security adviser’s comments about the hostage situation.

“Let me be very clear: Hamas’ refusal to release the remaining young women is what broke this deal and ended the pause in fighting,” the president said. ‘

“These women and everyone else who is still being held hostage by Hamas must be immediately returned to their families. “We’re not going to stop – we’re not going to stop until we get every single one of them home, and it’s going to be a long process.”

The White House said Monday it was “gravely concerned” about female civilian hostages who remain captive in the Gaza Strip as the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas continue to exchange fire.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan highlighted the plight of women civilians captured in the October 7 Hamas raid. Israeli military women are also being held captive.

During a White House briefing, he was asked about Hamas’ reluctance to release the remaining women civilians held in the Gaza Strip after violating a seven-day ceasefire that led to the release of more than 100 of the total hostages. about 240 people were captured during the assault.

“I’m not going to speculate about it, I’ll just say that they didn’t do it, and we’re seriously concerned about that. But I’m not going to speculate on their reasoning,” Sullivan told reporters.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the administration is “gravely concerned” about the plight of female hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip.

His comments follow new eyewitness reports of Israeli men and women being raped during the October 7 raid.

Israel has expanded its ground operations in the Gaza Strip and Israeli forces say they hit 200 “terrorist” targets in the latest bombardment, even as US officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have issued warnings about the risk to the Palestinians. civilian population.

Administration officials continue to try to obtain information about the status of nine American hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip.

“Look, the bottom line of the hostage negotiations is that the first phase of the negotiations was about the release of women and children,” said Sullivan, who helped develop the strategy.

“Hamas continues to detain women and civilians and will not release them. And Israel is not ready to close the book on these women or give up on them, so Israel insists that Hamas follow through with the release of these women,” he said.

Israeli soldiers hug next to photographs of people killed and captured by Hamas militants during their brutal rampage at the Nova music festival in southern Israel, displayed at the site of an event commemorating the Oct. 7 massacre near Kibbutz Re’. I, Friday, December 1, 2023

SEI*182767099 Siblings of freed Israeli hostages Maya and Itai Regev (right) arrive at their family home in the city of Herzliya near Tel Aviv, December 4, 2023, after spending several days in hospital following their release from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip. White House says Hamas’ refusal to release more people ends humanitarian pause

Israel continued shelling targets in the Gaza Strip after the pause ended

“And then Israel said that if Hamas is willing to follow through with this, Israel is absolutely willing to discuss additional categories of hostages, civilians, wounded and ultimately all hostages, as well as the idea of ​​holding soldiers.”

Sullivan was reluctant to use leverage that could move the process forward.

“The easiest and simplest way to get back to this is to hold Hamas accountable for not implementing the plan. But then we will also have to think about how we can capture all our American hostages. and we think about it too. And, you know, the discouraging forms of leverage or the exact strategies of how we do this is something that I would refrain from, I would just say that we are considering, both jointly with Israel and just as a country with its citizens . . held what tools we have at our disposal so that they can be used.”

Sullivan said it was Hamas’s “refusal” that “led to the end of the hostage agreement and therefore the end of the pause in hostilities.”

Israeli officials said the pause ended after Hamas refused to produce a list of 10 more female hostages to be released, the Times of Israel reports.

Sullivan also spoke of protecting “safe zones” as Israeli forces told Gazans where to go despite a barrage of attacks.

“They also indicated that there are areas where there will be no-strike zones, and in those zones we expect Israel to follow through and not strike,” he said, warning the US ally.