State Department believes Hamas did not release women hostages out of fear of their testimonies

The spokesperson for the State Department assured this Monday in a press conference that Hamas did not release all the women hostages, and that is why it broke the truce, it was to prevent some of them from talking about the mistreatment received during their captivity in the Gaza Strip.

Matthew Miller assured that the federal government received reports from the Israeli government with details about violence committed against women by Palestinian civilians and Hamas members who carried out the October 7 attacks.

"It seems one of the reasons they don’t want to turn women over that they’ve been holding hostage and the reason this ceasefire fell apart, is they don’t want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody," Miller said, referring to sexual violence against Israeli women.

Miller assured that the United States Government does not yet have its own conclusions about the allegations of the sexual violence used by the assailants during the October 7 attacks. He announced that they are not preparing their own report, but that they have received information from the Government of Israel.

For these same reasons,- the lack of its own report -, the United States has not yet formally or particularly condemned the allegations of sexual attacks on women reported by the Jewish State. However, Miller assured that the Administration has no doubt about this.

Then, Miller assured that the United States Government presumes that if Hamas did not free all the captive women, it is because of the testimonies of sexual violence that some could give. "Certainly there is very little that I would put beyond Hamas when it comes to its treatment of civilians, and particularly its treatment of women."

IDF captures Hamas security headquarters

The Israel Defense Forces captured the Hamas security headquarters in Jabalia on Monday. According to the IDF, troops from the 551st Brigade and elite units from Shayetet 13 entered the barracks and neutralized it.

With this action, the Israeli forces achieved their encirclement of the city of Jabalia, against which they advanced last week and where they are still fighting against forces from the Al Qassam brigades. According to the IDF, they seized a good number of weapons and military equipment at the barracks.

More casualties for Israel

In the latest fighting since Monday, the IDF suffered new military casualties. Five Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with armed Hamas elements in the Gaza Strip. With the latter, the number of Israeli military casualties increases to 80 since the beginning of the ground operation in Gaza.