总统乔·拜登他指责哈马斯拒绝释放女性平民人质导致了临时停火的结束，并称有关女性据称遭到哈马斯性侵犯的报道“令人震惊”

“我们很早就有报道说，哈马斯在10月7日的袭击中用强奸来恐吓妇女和女孩以色列据媒体报道，拜登周二在波士顿地区的一场闭门筹款会上发表了上述言论。

“在过去的几周里，袭击的幸存者和目击者分享了难以想象的残酷的可怕经历，”他说。"关于妇女被强奸----多次被强奸----她们活着时身体被肢解----妇女尸体被亵渎的报道，哈马斯恐怖分子给妇女和女孩造成尽可能多的痛苦，然后谋杀她们。这是骇人听闻的。”

拜登谈到了报道的袭击事件，批评者说，这是联合国、妇女权利组织和一名民主党议员的失败，这名议员批评以色列迅速和断然谴责所谓的袭击。

“结束针对女性的暴力和性侵犯一直是我生活的目标之一。…但世界不能对正在发生的事情视而不见。我们所有人——政府、国际组织、公民社会和企业——都有责任毫不含糊地强烈谴责哈马斯恐怖分子的性暴力。没有含糊，没有例外，”拜登说。

在CNN的《国情咨文》星期天，主持人达纳·巴什质疑民主党众议员普拉米拉·贾亚帕尔，她强烈支持巴勒斯坦人的权利，巴什说，为什么进步领导人对她所说的哈马斯利用强奸作为战争武器保持沉默。

“我说这太可怕了，”贾亚帕尔说。“我认为强奸是可怕的。性侵犯是可怕的，”贾亚帕尔回应道。“我认为这发生在战争情况下。像哈马斯这样的恐怖组织显然在利用这些作为工具。”

“然而，我认为我们必须在引入针对巴勒斯坦人的暴行方面保持平衡，”她继续说道，“15000名巴勒斯坦人在以色列的空袭中丧生，其中四分之三是妇女和儿童。”

根据哈马斯控制的加沙卫生部的数据，超过16，000人在加沙被杀，而根据以色列总理办公室的数据，1200人在以色列被杀。

拜登周二发表讲话后不久，贾亚帕尔发表了一份声明声明关于X试图澄清她的言论。

“让我完全明确地表示，我毫不含糊地谴责哈马斯将强奸和性暴力作为一种战争行为，”她部分说道。

“我关于平衡的评论与强奸无关，也无意以任何方式淡化强奸和性侵犯，”她补充道。

拜登说，与此同时，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡举行了新闻发布会，以色列国防军公布了一份文件，详细说明了哈马斯恐怖分子在10月7日犯下的性暴力和其他暴行的证据和目击者证词。

“我听说过，你也听说过，性虐待和强奸案件是前所未有的残酷，”内塔尼亚胡说。“但我必须说，直到几天前，我没有听到人权组织的声音，我没有听到妇女组织的声音，我没有听到联合国的声音。我没有听到他们的哭声。我问他们:‘你们在哪里?你沉默是因为这些是犹太女人吗?”他问道。

“我要对妇女权利组织和人权组织说，你们已经听说了以色列妇女被强奸、可怕的暴行和性残害，”他继续说道。“好吧——你到底在哪里?我希望所有文明的领导人、政府、国家都站出来反对这一暴行。”

哈马斯发表声明否认以色列的说法。

“我们断然拒绝占领者宣扬的强奸指控，这些指控旨在歪曲抵抗，转移人们对被释放的被拘留者获得的人道和道德待遇的关注，”声明说。

最近几天，联合国秘书长和联合国妇女署(该组织负责促进性别平等的机构)呼吁对10月7日或之后发生的所有基于性别的暴力行为进行调查和起诉。

一个正在进行的联合国调查委员会正在调查冲突双方被指控的战争罪行，调查的重点也将包括哈马斯被指控使用性暴力。但到目前为止，以色列还没有配合调查，声称领导它的委员会怀有反以色列的偏见。

在谈到剩余的女性人质时，拜登没有谈到国务院发言人马特·米勒周一提出的建议，即哈马斯关押她们是为了防止她们谈论性暴力。

米勒说，“他们不想交出被他们扣为人质的女性的原因之一，也是暂停失败的原因，是他们不想让这些女性谈论她们在被关押期间发生的事情。”后来他补充说，这不是一个“确定的评估”

拜登说:“这些是平民妇女，大多数年龄在20岁至39岁之间，哈马斯拒绝根据暂停战斗的协议释放她们，我帮助与卡塔尔人进行了谈判。”“我与卡塔尔人和其他人一起花了数小时来促成、维持和延长这笔交易。我救出了100多名人质。”

他说:“让我说得非常清楚:哈马斯拒绝释放剩余的年轻女性是破坏这项协议并结束战斗暂停的原因。”

他说:“这些妇女和所有仍被哈马斯扣为人质的人需要立即回到他们的家人身边。”。“我们不会停止——我们不会停止，直到我们把他们每个人都带回家，这将是一个漫长的过程。”

Biden calls reports of Hamas' sexual violence against Israeli women 'appalling'

PresidentJoe Bidenhas 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 inIsrael," 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."

President Joe Biden walks to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Dec. 5, 2023.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Biden spoke about the reported assaults amid controversy over what critics said was a failure by the United Nations, women's rights organizations and a Democratic lawmaker who has criticized Israel to quickly and flatly condemn the alleged attacks.

On CNN's"State of the Union"Sunday, anchor Dana Bash challenged Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who strongly supports Palestinian rights, on why progressive leaders, Bash said, had been silent about what she called Hamas using rape as a weapon of war.

"I said it's horrific," Jayapal said. "And I think that rape is horrific. Sexual assault is horrific," Jayapal responded. "I think that it happens in war situations. Terrorist organizations like Hamas obviously are using these as tools."

"However, I think we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians," she continued, adding, "Fifteen-thousand Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, three-quarters of whom are women and children."

More than 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, while 1200 have been killed in Israel, according to the Israeli prime minister's office.

Shortly after Biden spoke Tuesday, Jayapal issued astatementon X attempting to clarify her remarks.

"Let me be completely clear that I unequivocally condemn Hamas' use of rape and sexual violence as an act of war," she said, in part.

"My comment abut balance was not about rape, and not intended to minimize rape and sexual assault in any way, she added.

Biden spoke about the same time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a news conference and the Israel Defense Forces released a document detailing what it said was evidence and eyewitness testimony of sexual violence and other atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.

"I have heard, and you have also heard, about sexual abuse and cases of rape that are brutal like none other," Netanyahu said. "But I must say that until a few days ago, I did not hear the human rights organizations, I did not hear the women's organizations, I did not hear the United Nations. I did not hear their cry. And I say to them: 'Where are you? Are you silent because these are Jewish women?" he asked.

"I say to the women's rights organizations, to the human rights organizations, you've heard of the rape of Israeli women, horrible atrocities, sexual mutilation," he continued. "OK -- where the hell are you? I expect all civilized leaders, governments, nations, to speak up against this atrocity."

Hamas put out a statement rejecting Israel's claims.

"We categorically reject the false allegations of rape propagated by the occupation, aimed at distorting the resistance and deflecting attention from the humane and ethical treatment accorded to released detainees," the statement said.

In recent days, the United Nations Secretary-General and U.N. Women -- the arm of the organization responsible for promoting gender equality -- have issued calls for all acts of gender-based violence committed on or after Oct. 7 to be investigated and prosecuted.

An ongoing U.N. commission of inquiry probing alleged war crimes on both sides of the conflict is also set to include a focus on Hamas’ alleged use of sexual violence. But so far, Israel has not cooperated with the investigation, claiming the council leading it harbors an anti-Israeli bias.

When speaking about the remaining female hostages Biden did not address suggestions made by State Department spokesman Matt Miller on Monday that Hamas was holding them to keep them from talking about sexual violence.

"It seems that one of the reasons they don't want to turn women over that they've been holding hostage -- and the reason this pause fell apart -- is that they don't want these women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody," Miller said, later adding it was not a "definitive assessment."

"These are civilian women, mostly between the ages of 20 and 39, whom Hamas has refused to let go under the deal that paused the fighting, which I helped negotiate with the Qataris," Biden said. "I spent hours with the Qataris and others to broker, sustain and extend that deal. I got more than 100 hostages out."

"Let me be crystal clear: Hamas' refusal to release the remaining young women is what broke this deal and ended the pause in the fighting," he said.

"These women and everyone still being held hostage by Hamas need to be returned to their families immediately," he said. "We're not going to stop -- we're not going to stop until we bring every one of them home and it's going to be a long process."