Report: Hamas accused of sexual abuse, exploiting Gazan women for aid

The Daily Mail, one of Britain’s largest daily newspapers by circulation, published a report this week on conditions for ordinary Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including eyewitness accounts of sexual abuse by Hamas members against Palestinian women. The report cites witnesses who spoke to Jusoor News, an Arabic media platform, mostly anonymously due to fears of retaliation.

The report indicates that in the 47% of Gaza controlled by Hamas, many systems intended to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians have collapsed. Hamas members are described as diverting aid shipments, while civilians, particularly women without a male guardian, are increasingly vulnerable to exploitation.

Child marriages are reportedly becoming more common, and some widows are being pressured to provide sex to Hamas members in exchange for basic food and other essential supplies for themselves and their children.

One witness quoted in the report said they found one such widowed woman being gang raped in a tent by a group of Hamas operatives. “We were contacted by the wife of a friend. She had asked a Qassam Brigades commander to help her, but he took advantage of her,” he said. “His behaviour is disgraceful. We investigated the matter and found her in a tent in the Gharabli area where a bunch of Qassam members were taking advantage of her. We informed the leadership but we were told we had to keep silent about it.”

Another witness quoted in the report was a Hamas operative who said he attempted to report similar incidents to his superiors, but he was instructed to stop talking about it.

"We told them it was an insult to our honor and dignity,” he said, but there was not much he could do about it.

A journalist working for Jusoor News told the Daily Mail that "In every area, many women are exploited, especially widows and divorced women, because they have no support and no income. Their vulnerability is taken advantage of, and the situation is getting worse day by day. “They exploit women’s need for help. But the women are too scared to speak up.”

Another victim said, “I am a mother of four children. I am displaced because of the war and I do not belong to a recognized displacement camp, so I did not receive any aid. I went to an Islamic charity that distributes aid to displaced and needy people in Gaza. I was welcomed by a man who looked religious, like a sheikh. He said he would stand by me and help me. From the beginning, the way he spoke to me felt like harassment. I am much younger than him. I trusted him because he was an older man; I saw him like a father. He is the age of my father, but he harassed me directly. I was afraid, of course. He was pursuing me. I asked him how he could talk to me like that and said he should be ashamed. I told him I would expose him. He said, ‘You cannot expose me, I am the government here.’”

Author Hamza Howidy was willing to use his name and be quoted in the report, declaring that "Women are being sexually abused now, worse than during the war. The problem is that most women will never speak about it publicly because society considers it shameful… . It’s not only widows who are being affected, but also unmarried women. Many women are now forced to seek assistance simply to feed their children.”

In related news, A report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) documented the rise in child marriages in the Strip, as well as teenage pregnancies.

Nestor Owomuhangi, UNFPA Country Representative in the Palestinian territories, lamented that “We are witnessing the dismantling of a generation’s future.”

Finally, Abdullah, a Jusoor News journalist, told the Daily Mail that “Hamas has exploited media channels, spreading exaggerated or false numbers. Hamas has lied about everything; they stole the aid, created the famine narrative, and the gullible West believes it. They have no respect for anyone.”