Secretary of State Antony Blinken has condemned the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas militants during the 7 October attacks on Israel, saying that it’s “beyond anything that I’ve seen”.
Appearing on CNN on Sunday, Mr Blinken criticised those who haven’t addressed the issue.
“I don’t know why countries, leaders, international organizations were so slow to focus on this, to bring it to people’s attention. I’m glad it is finally happening,” he said.
“The atrocities that we saw on October 7 are almost beyond human description or beyond our capacity to digest. And we’ve talked about them before, but the sexual violence that we saw on October 7 is beyond anything that I’ve seen either.”
Last week, Israel hosted a panel at the United Nations in New York to hear testimony about the alleged sexual and gender-based violence carried out during the attack.
Several of those who spoke said that human rights groups, including UN Women, had been too slow to address the reports of sexual violence.
Asked why the response was slow, Mr Blinken told CNN: “I think it is a question that these organisations, these countries need to ask themselves.”
House Democrats are set to put forward a resolution condemning the sexual violence by Hamas after they were displeased with the response to the allegations by several progressive lawmakers.
Witnesses have stated that women and girls were sexually assaulted, tortured, and killed and Israeli police are investigating reports of rape.
First responders have told CNN that some female victims were found undressed.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron at the State Department in Washington, DC, on December 7, 2023— (AFP via Getty Images)
In a statement on Telegram last week, Hamas rejected the allegations of sexual violence and rape, instead criticising what they claim was “the coordination of some Western media outlets with the Zionist misleading campaigns that promote unfounded lies and allegations aimed at demonising the Palestinian resistance”.
But evidence of sexual violence was shared at the UN meeting, including graphic footage of victims and videos of interrogated Hamas fighters stating that rapes did take place.
Testimony also came from Israeli police officers and witnesses to the aftermath of attacks.
Some who prepared bodies for burial shared evidence at the UN meeting that Hamas had gang raped some victims, adding that they purposefully shot or otherwise mutilated victims’ genital areas.
Mr Blinken also said that, as Israel carries out its operations in southern Gaza, there needs to be further efforts to protect civilians and provide aid.
The Gaza Health Ministry, which is operated by Hamas, stated on Saturday that more than 17,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of hostilities.
“Even as Israel has taken additional steps, for example, to designate safe areas in the south, to focus on neighbourhoods, not entire cities in terms of evacuating,” Mr Blinken said.
“What we’re not seeing sufficiently is a couple of things. One, making sure that the humanitarian operators who are there – starting with the United Nations performing heroically – that there are deconfliction times, places and routes so that the humanitarians can bring the assistance that’s getting into Gaza to the people who need it.”
The Israeli Defence Forces called on civilians on Saturday to leave large parts of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where fighting was taking place.
But, as there are large parts of Gaza without internet, it’s unclear how many civilians the warning reached.
On Sunday, the IDF said it had targeted more than 250 targets in the preceding 24 hours.
“We need to see the same kind of deconfliction time, pauses, designated routes, plural, not just one, and clarity of communication, so that people know when it is safe and where it is safe to move to get out of harm’s way before they go back home,” Mr Blinken told CNN.
“These are the kinds of things we’re working on every single day again to make sure that that gap between intent and result is as narrow as possible.”
Mr Blinken didn’t provide a specific answer when asked how long he believes the current stage of the war will go on.
“Israel has to make these decisions. Of course, everyone wants to see this campaign come to a close as quickly as possible,” he said, but he added that “when the major military operation is over, this is not over”.
“Because we have to have a durable, sustainable peace. And we have to make sure that we’re on the path to a durable sustainable peace,” he added.
