Despite documentation of Hamas’ atrocities, PLO official denies “murder of children, rape of women” as “tendentious Israeli propaganda”
PLO Executive Committee member and PLF Secretary-General Wasel Abu Yusuf: “Since Oct. 7 (i.e., Hamas’ massacre on Israel) there has been a Zionist version that [Israel] has attempted to spread worldwide out of tendentious propaganda, [claiming] that there was murder of children, rape of women, crimes, and the like.”
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Dec. 3, 2023]
Hamas terrorists filmed and broadcasted themselves committing their atrocities on Oct. 7. Israeli authorities confirmed the murders and abuse while tending to the victims’ bodies, as did testimonies of surviving victims.
Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) – A terror organization and member of the PLO. The PLF is headed by Secretary-General Wasel Abu Yusuf who is also a member of the PLO Executive Committee. The PLF has been responsible for numerous terror attacks, including the hijacking of an Italian cruise ship in 1985, in which one Jewish hostage in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot, and then thrown overboard. The US has listed the PLF as a terror organization.
Hamas war on Israel October 2023 - At least 1,200 Israelis, including over 1,000 civilians, were murdered and over 4,800 wounded, in addition to approximately 244 who were abducted into the Gaza Strip (including 110 later released or liberated and at least 26 later killed), in a Hamas terror war that began when approximately 3,000 Hamas terrorists broke through Israel's security fence at the Gaza Strip border and launched a surprise attack, taking control of several Israeli towns and attacking a music festival on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which fell on the Sabbath, Oct. 7, 2023. During the massacre the terrorists tortured, raped, shot, beheaded, and burned their victims alive, murdering entire families and leaving at least 21 children without parents. Hamas terrorists also fired at least 5,000 rockets at Israeli population centers. In response, Israel launched Operation Iron Swords to counter the Hamas terror threat. Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon joined Hamas' terror war starting from the following day, attacking Israel from the north. Occasional rocket launches and shootings continued from Lebanon throughout the war. A ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal began on Nov. 24, 2023, in which Israel agreed to release 150 terrorist prisoners, pause drone surveillance in the Gaza Strip, and allow movement between the northern and southern Gaza Strip, in return for 50 Israeli female and child hostages held by Hamas. The deal was subsequently extended with additional releases, until Hamas violated the agreement and resumed attacking on Dec. 1, 2023.