In response to a New York Times report on Hamas sexual violence on October 7:

“Our resistance members are fighters for freedom and dignity, they would never commit such shameful acts. Our religion, values and culture and societal norms don’t accept these acts and even don’t tolerate them. We mention that there was not a single ‘rape case’ filed in Palestinian courts in Gaza against any citizen.

“The Palestinian fighters on October 7 were busy in one mission which is to defend the Palestinian people and to break unjust siege imposed on Gaza by fighting the Gaza Division of the Israeli army, and successfully performed such mission in a glorious and honourable way.

“Furthermore, the duration of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation was very short; it was a matter of few hours and most of the fighters had withdrawn from the Israeli sites back to Gaza to take their positions to defend our people and land. Such period could never give time or space to the fighters to think of nothing but their mission which is to crush the enemy’s military sites.”Bassem Naim, “Response to the New York Times misleading report against the Palestinian resistance on Oct. 7,” Hamas Online Telegram Channel, December 31, 2023.