&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Uses rape as weapon': Israel's First Lady backs UN move to 'blacklist' Hamas, says 'sexual abuse' in captivity is not 'incidental'")
Israel's First Lady, Michal Herzog, welcomed the United Nations' decision to add Hamas to its official "blacklist" of countries, stressing that they have committed sexual crimes in violent conflicts.
The first lady called the United Nations' move a "long time coming", saying that the evidence has been clear for months.
Herzog has been actively raising concerns over Hamas' sexual violence since the October 7 attack on southern Israel that killed hundreds of people.
“The world must understand: Hamas uses rape as a weapon,” Herzog says. “These atrocities — rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, sexual abuse in captivity — are not incidental. They are deliberate, premeditated and systematic tools of terror," she said
Herzog pointed to a 2024 report by the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict that showed Hamas' deliberate and systematic crimes.
This comes a week after UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres placed Hamas on the blacklist for the first time. He further warned that Israel itself could be added in the future if allegations of misconduct by its forces are substantiated.
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Earlier on Monday, Hamas agreed to the Gaza ceasefire proposal submitted to it on Sunday, according to sources, Al Jazeera reported. Hamas informed mediators that it has accepted the ceasefire-hostage release deal proposal submitted to it on Sunday, reported Reuters and Times of Israel.
A Hamas source told Al Jazeera, “We informed the mediators of our approval of their proposal, which was presented yesterday.”
Egypt, Qatar, and the United States have been mediating between Israel and Hamas since the beginning of the Gaza war, but the efforts of mediators have so far failed to secure a lasting ceasefire.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday that the destruction of Hamas was the only way to get the remaining Gaza hostages back home.
“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
