Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly criticized women's organizations, international human rights organizations, and the UN for their silence over the rapes and other crimes carried out by Hamas against Israeli women. Following the attack on Israel on October 7, US President Joe Biden has publicly criticized the reported rape and sexual brutality against Israeli girls and women by Hamas fighters. Israel has, however, rejected calls to end the military operation in the southern Gaza Strip. Only after eliminating Hamas militants will the Israeli Defense Forces declare that the battle is over.
Top updates on the Israel-Hamas conflict are included below.
Only the Rafah area in southern Gaza is receiving little humanitarian relief, according to the UN. It further added that because of the primary fiber routes being cut, all telecom services had stopped operating.
On Monday, only 100 relief trucks carrying 69,000 gallons of fuel and humanitarian goods made their way into Gaza from Egypt.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has charged that international human rights organizations ignore rapes. Though the extent of the sexual abuse is yet unknown, witnesses and medical professionals claim that Hamas members killed the victims in the attack after carrying out a string of rapes and other attacks.
On Tuesday, the Israeli Prime Minister and his war cabinet had a heated discussion with the relatives of Israeli hostages who are still being held in Gaza. The war cabinet had never heard directly from newly freed captives before. At least five of them described horrifying experiences they had while in Gaza and urged the government to take further action to free all hostages. Over 110 hostages were released on Friday as part of a week-long cease-fire that also saw the release of Palestinian inmates. According to the Israeli army, 138 prisoners are still held captive in Gaza.
The United States has committed to providing Gaza with an extra $21 million in humanitarian aid to help build a field hospital. A second aid flight carrying 36,000 pounds (16,329 kg) of food and medical supplies has been organized by the US and is headed for Gaza. The leader of Qatar, which has been instrumental in negotiating disputes between Hamas and Israel, attacked Israel for committing "crimes of genocide" in Gaza.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the conflict has killed over 15,000 people in Gaza so far, with women and children accounting for 70% of the deaths. Israel claims that it tries its hardest to protect civilians and charges Hamas with exploiting them as human shields.
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