Gal Gadot seen outside the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ studios in Los Angeles. Photo: Cover Media via Reuters Connect
Israeli actress Gal Gadot blasted the international community for its silence about rape and sexual violence that Israeli women experienced by the hands of Hamas terrorists during the deadly massacre that took place in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, the Wonder Woman 1984 star said “the world has failed the women of Oct. 7” and called for the immediate release of every female hostage seized by Hamas during the terror group’s onslaught.
“We say we believe women. Stand with women. Speak out for women,” she wrote in her statement. “Within hours of the Oct. 7 attack, the first blood-chilling video emerged of Shani Louk being paraded naked and defiled by her proud assailants. Yet two months later women are still hostage to these rapists and the world has failed to call this situation what it is: an urgent emergency that demands a decisive response.”
Gadot concluded by saying that “women and allies of women” need to act and demand the release of all female hostages taken by Hamas to Gaza after the terrorist organization murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 240 others during its invasion last month.
“I am beseeching all those who have done so much for women’s rights globally — from the UN, to the human rights community to please join in the demand that Hamas release every single woman hostage immediately — not after the next round of international mediation,” Gadot said. “Not after another day. These women cannot survive another moment of this horror.”
Earlier over the weekend, United Nations Women — the UN agency for gender equality and women’s empowerment — released its first statement about the Hamas kidnappings, more than 50 days after they took place. UN Women denounced the Hamas attacks and “the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence” that took place on Oct. 7. It also called for all accounts of gender-based violence that took place “to be duly investigated and prosecuted, with the rights of the victim at the core.”
A new report from The Sunday Times in the United Kingdom included chilling testimonies about sexual violence, including gang rape, that Hamas terrorists carrying out on their victims during the Oct. 7 attacks. Israeli forensic teams who examined the bodies of those murdered by Hamas that day said they found multiple signs of rape and torture. Haim Outmezgine, a senior member of of volunteer rescue group ZAKA, also took the British publication that after seeing the bodies first-hand, “it was clear [Hamas terrorists] were trying to spread as much horror as they could, to kill, to burn alive, to rape — it seemed their mission was to rape as many as possible.”
