According to a US official, Hamas militants likely delayed rescuing female hostages, thus ending a respite in Israel’s offensive, because they did not want the women to openly discuss sexual violence.
Israel had suspended its offensive in Gaza, which is administered by Hamas, as part of a truce agreement arranged by the US and Qatar to rescue some 240 captives taken during the October 7 attacks, which Israeli authorities estimate killed 1,200 people, the majority of whom were civilians.
Thousands of Israeli and other hostages were released in return for Palestinian inmates detained in Israeli jails under the truce.
According to the Israeli military, fighting resumed on Friday when the cease-fire expired, with at least 137 hostages still being held in Gaza.
“It seems 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 they don’t want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Miller, citing sensitivities in discussing the treatment of captives, declined to give details on the treatment of the women.
But he said that the United States had “no reason to doubt” reports of sexual violence by Hamas.
“There is very little that I would put beyond Hamas when it comes to its treatment of civilians and particularly its treatment of women,” Miller said.
Israeli police have also been exploring evidence of sexual violence during the October 7 attack.
A senior police officer recently told Israel’s parliament that an inquiry has gathered more than 1,500 testimonies. Allegations include gang rape and post-mortem mutilation.
Miller said that Israel has briefed the United States “extensively” on its findings into the October 7 attack, although US officials were not on the ground making independent assessments.
“But we have seen Hamas commit atrocities both on October 7 and since October 7, and we obviously condemn those atrocities and support Israel’s actions to hold Hamas accountable for them,” Miller said.
Campaigners in Israel have derided what they see as a muted international response to gender-based violence during the attack.
Hamas in a statement Monday rejected accusations of rape and sexual violence as “unfounded lies.”
Israeli attacks since October 7 have killed nearly 15,900 people in Gaza, about 70 percent of them women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.