‘We don’t rape’: Hamas rejects New York Times report about sexual violence
Dr Basem in one of the harshest statement since Oct 7 accused The New York Times of being complicit in what he described “Zionist propaganda to spread lies and demonise Palestinian struggle to justify war crimes”. Read More
Gaza Strip: The Hamas rejected a report by US daily The New York Times which accused the Resistance Fighters of raping Israeli women and resorting to sexual violence on Oct 7 when they stormed the occupied Palestinian territories as part of their Operation Al Aqsa Flood on Oct 07, 2023.
Hamas political bureau member Dr. Basem Naim in a statement Sunday December 31, 2023 termed the ‘Operation Al Aqsa Flood’ holy that was launched to protect the Palestinians and force the Zionists to end their occupation.
Dr Basem Naim also described the Palestinian militants as “freedom fighters” and “dignified” who strictly adhere to the Islamic principles in the war against the occupation.
“Our fighters are freedom fighters and dignified, and cannot commit such shameful acts. Our Islamic religion, national values, and societal culture do not accept such disgraceful acts”, Dr Basem said.
“According to the statistics approved by the Supreme Judicial Council in Gaza, not a single case of rape has been registered before the courts”, he added.
Dr Basem’s statement was in response to The New York Times report titled "'Screams Without Words': How Hamas Used Sexual Violence as a Weapon on October 7".
Dr Basem said for the report, the authors Jeffrey Gettleman and others relied “solely on statements from Zionist government officials who only speak in the context of official Zionist propaganda and what serves the demonization of the Palestinian people.”
“The allegations of The New York Times contradict the testimonies given by many "Israeli" women, who spoke about the good treatment they received from Palestinian fighters on October 7th”, Dr Basem said.
“Anyone professional and objective can easily access these testimonies on social media platforms. These women spoke to "Israeli" media without mentioning any of the claims made by The New York Times”, the Hamas political bureau member said.
Dr Basem also cited the testimonies of the hostages released by Hamas and other Palestinian Resistance groups who while speaking to the Israeli and international media lauded their treatment in Gaza during the difficult days in captivity.
“Testimonies of all women who were detained in the Gaza Strip and later released mentioned only the good treatment they received from their captors, affirming the fighters' commitment to protecting them and providing whatever they could to alleviate the difficult circumstances they experienced, and spoke of the high humanitarian values they observed in the fighters throughout the time”, Dr Basem said.
Dr Basem said Operation Al Aqsa Storm on Oct 7 lasted for few hours and had only one mission – to defend the Palestinians against the occupation.
“The Al-Aqsa Flood operation did not last more than a few hours, after which most of the fighters withdrew from the "Israeli" military sites and returned to Gaza to continue their mission of defending their people against the fascist Zionist aggression”, Dr Basem said.
“On October 7th, our Palestinian fighters had one main mission: to defend our people against an unjust occupation and break the suffocating siege on our people in Gaza, represented by the Gaza Division of the Zionist army. This is what they successfully accomplished with manhood and honor”, the Hamas political bureau member said.
Dr Basem in one of the harshest statement since Oct 7 accused The New York Times of being complicit in what he described “Zionist propaganda to spread lies and demonise Palestinian struggle to justify war crimes”.
“We regret to say that most of the mainstream Western media and press agencies have moved from the idea of bias towards Zionist propaganda to complicity in spreading lies and slander against the Palestinians and their resistance”, Dr Basem said.
“We categorically deny these allegations and consider them part of the Zionist attempt to demonize the resistance and justify the war crimes and crimes of genocide committed by the Zionist enemy against our Palestinian people everywhere”, he added.
The far right Zionist government in Israel has been on a number of times since Oct 7 and before accused of fabrication and spreading fake reports and making false claims about the Palestinian Resistance Group to justify its military offensive in Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories which the world leaders and scholars have termed a “textbook case of genocide”.
Soon after Operation al Aqsa Storm on Oct 7, it was claimed that the Resistance Fighters “slaughtered and butchered babies". The claim was however refuted by the Israeli army itself.
During more than 80 days of war, the Israeli Occupation Forces claimed about hospitals and mosques being used as military bases to justify the bombardment of these places. The fact checkers however rejected all these claims as fake and fabricated lacking evidence.
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