Senate

Bipartisan group of Senators introduce resolution condemning Hamas’s sexual violence

by Lauren Irwin - 12/14/23 11:00 AM ET

People attend a ceremony to mark the one-month anniversary of the bloody Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas militants, in which 1,400 people were killed and 240 people kidnapped, mostly Israeli citizens, in front of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in Jerusalem's Old City, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. The cross-border attack by Hamas triggered a war that has raged for the past month. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) — People attend a ceremony to mark the one-month anniversary of the bloody Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas militants, in which 1,400 people were killed and 240 people kidnapped, mostly Israeli citizens, in front of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in Jerusalem’s Old City, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. The cross-border attack by Hamas triggered a war that has raged for the past month. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A bipartisan group of senators introduced a resolution Thursday condemning Hamas for its use of sexual violence during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The prevalence of sexual violence during Hamas’s initial attack has been well documented, and reports since the attack revealed the gruesome acts of rape used as a weapon of war.

The resolution, signed by more than 20 senators, states that Israeli police have gathered more than 1,500 testimonies of men and women who were victims of sexual assault, witnessed such actions or have been medically documented.

The resolution said gender-based violence is “almost always severely under-reported during and after conflict.”

“Footage and first-hand accounts of the horrors that happened to Israeli women, men and children on October 7th demonstrate that these actions – which are war crimes under international convention – were intended to torture, humiliate and oppress the victims,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who co-led the resolution, said in a statement.

Shaheen said she is proud to stand with her colleagues to introduce a resolution that condemns Hamas for its attack and subsequent sexual and gender violence. She called upon the international community “to stand against rape as a weapon of war in all conflict settings.”

She was joined by Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) in sponsoring the resolution. Britt said she traveled to Israel after the initial attack and was shown videos of the acts committed by Hamas.

“As a mother, as a daughter, as a sister, and as an American, I was absolutely horrified by the acts of pure evil carried out against innocent Israeli women and young girls,” Britt said in a statement. “These reprehensible, barbaric acts of sexual violence have no place in our world and must be unequivocally and universally condemned.”

The resolution comes just days after a bipartisan group of senators, including Britt, wrote a letter to the United Nations calling for an investigation into the “growing body of evidence” of Hamas’s use of sexual violence.

The Palestinian militant group killed more than 1,200 Israelis during its surprise attack and took more than 240 hostages, sparking the war in the Gaza Strip. More than 17,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s counteroffensive.

President Biden publicly condemned the use of sexual violence in the war, saying it’s “on all of us” to condemn the acts.

Tensions have risen in the Democratic Party around how best to condemn the group. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, sparked backlash after saying the potential rapes were “horrific” but needed a “balanced” approach to recognize pain caused on both sides of the war.

More than 80 House lawmakers recently accused the women of the U.N. of disregarding the initial attacks.