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On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched thousands of rockets into Israel, to overwhelm the Iron Dome system, and then bulldozed its way through the border using explosives, speed boats and paragliders. The terrorists targeted the Nova music festival, slaughtering attendees and attacking neighbourhoods. The victims included the elderly, babies and entire families.
Days after the attack, reports of abuse of hostages started coming in. A United Nations report published in March said that there are “reasonable grounds to believe" rapes were committed during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. The report released by the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten said that the hostages subsequently taken to Gaza have also been raped.
A year on, a look at what the hostages went through:
‘KEPT PUNCHING ME’
Amit Soussana, 40, a lawyer, who was taken hostage by Hamas became the first Israeli hostage to publicly speak about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her captor, The New York Times said in a report. Amit said her abuse began shortly after she was taken captive. She was also beaten up by her captors during her captivity. She was released after 55 days along with 105 other hostages, but she told the newspaper that she remains traumatised following her ordeal.
ALSO READ | First Israeli Hostage Opens Up About Sexual Assault In Hamas Captivity
The lawyer said she was assaulted by a man named ‘Muhammad’ while she was being held at a home in Gaza. She said ‘Muhammad’ used to lift her shirt, grope her and had begun harassing her from the moment she was brought to his home which acted as a makeshift jail. Amit’s abduction had gone viral because of the manner in which she was abducted. Videos on social media showed Hamas gunmen beating her as she attempted to escape from her captors during the October 7 attacks after being kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Azza, a stone’s throw away from the Gaza border.
‘AKIN TO HOLOCAUST’
Mia Schem, the 21-year-old hostage released by Hamas during the weeklong November temporary ceasefire, said her 54 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza Strip were akin to the Holocaust while speaking to Israeli broadcaster Channel 13.
“It was important to me to relay the truth about the nature of the people who live in Gaza, who they are truly are, and what I experienced there," Schem was quoted as saying by Channel 13.
Schem’s video was released by Hamas in November where she was heard urging the Israeli government to free her. The woman was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival from southern Israel during the October 7 attacks. She said she was kept in a civilian family’s home in Gaza and expressed her surprise at the presence of children and women. “Everyone there were terrorists… Entire families are in the service of Hamas. I began asking myself questions: Why am I being held in some family’s household? Why are there children here? Why is there a woman here?" Schem said.
‘HE TOUCHED HER’
Aviva Spiegel, an Israeli woman, who spent over 50 days in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, said that other female hostages suffered sexual abuse and torture. She revealed this during a testimony in January in a special hearing at the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, dedicated to the 136 hostages still held in Palestinian territory. The 62-year-old said that after one female hostage went to the bathroom, she returned looking agitated.
“I’m going to say words that are not pretty, but that bastard touched her," she was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. “And he didn’t even allow me to hug her after it happened. It’s awful, just awful."
ALSO READ | ‘It’s Awful, Just Awful’: Israeli Hostage Says Other Captive Women Were Sexually Abused, Tortured
Siegel said in another episode, their captors tortured a woman they believed was an officer in the Israeli army while she was right next to Siegel. Although she did not elaborate on how her fellow hostages were abused, she appeared visibly upset as she spoke, AP reported. She was among some 250 people taken hostage during the October 7 cross-border attack. She was released in late November during a weeklong ceasefire.
‘SICK PROPAGANDA’
Hamas terrorists forced 26-year-old Israeli hostage Noa Argamani to reveal in a pre-recorded video that fellow captives Yossi Sharabi and Itai Svirsky were killed in captivity.
The video released by the terrorist group on social media was termed as a “sick propaganda video" by Israeli authorities who harshly criticised the terrorist group for mocking the plight of those whose loved ones are among the 132 people being held captive in Gaza.
Argamani, who was kidnapped from the Supernova Music Festival, appeared in three Hamas video clips. The latest video where she featured she was seen urging the Israeli government to not bomb Gaza and “condemning" Israeli airstrikes and “accusing" the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) of killing those held hostage. “It was bombed by an IDF airstrike, an F16 fighter jet. Three rockets were fired. Two of the rockets exploded, and the other didn’t. We were in the building with Al Qassam soldiers and three hostages: Myself-Noa Argamani, Itai Svirsky, and Yossef Sharabi," Argamani said.
Argamani, Sharabi and Svirsky were initially seen alive in an undated video released by Hamas on Sunday. In the end of the video, Hamas said that it would reveal the ‘fate’ of those filmed later.
‘YOU WILL STAY & HAVE MY CHILDREN’
An Israeli woman, who was released in a hostage deal last year after enduring 50 days of captivity in Gaza, revealed that one of her Hamas captors wanted to marry her and have children with her.
“He gave me a ring on day 14 [in captivity], and I stayed with him until day 50," 18-year-old Noga Weiss revealed during an interview. She further recounted, “He told me that everyone will be released, but I will stay here with him and have his children."
When questioned about her response to the proposal, she said, “I pretended to laugh so he wouldn’t shoot me in the head." She further revealed that her mother, whom she initially believed had died after they were separated during her kidnapping, was reunited with her a few days later. This reunion happened because her Hamas captor wanted to ask for her hand in marriage.
ALSO READ | Freed Israeli Hostage Reveals Hamas Captor Wanted To Marry Her
“One of the Hamas members said he loves me, he wants to marry me and brought my mother to me so she would approve of our marriage," said Noga, adding: “A woman dressed as an Arab entered, and I realise it’s my mother. I thought they killed her, I thought I was alone. Suddenly she’s alive, and I’m no longer alone." Noga and her mother were released as a part of the four-day truce between the Israel and Hamas on November last year.
‘MAMA, DADA, I MISS YOU’
Hamas released a distressing video of US-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the six captives whose bodies were recovered from Gaza. Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old dual US and Israeli citizen, was among those abducted by Hamas during the October 7 attack that killed around 1,200 people.
Looking disheveled, Goldberg-Polin addressed his parents and two sisters, saying, “Mama, Dada, Leebi and Orly, I love you, I miss you. And I’m thinking about you every single day." He went on to describe the harsh conditions of his captivity, stating, “Since I arrived in Gaza, I’ve survived with almost no medical care, little food and little water. I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun or took a breath of fresh air."
‘BREASTS CUT OFF’
Yoni Saadon, 39, who survived the Supernova music festival massacre, where more than 250 people died, said he saw Hamas terrorists beating and raping a woman. “When they finished they were laughing," Saadon said.
Israel slammed UN Women by saying its responses were “too late and tepid" after the organisation said it was “alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities" during the attacks on southern Israel.
ALSO READ | Israeli Survivors Reveal Accounts of Sexual Violence by Hamas
Senior police officer Shelly Harush told lawmakers that investigators collected “more than 1,500 shocking and difficult testimonies" from witnesses, medics and pathologists. Harush said girls were “stripped bare above the waist and below" and that a young woman was gangraped, mutilated and murdered.
Harush said witnesses told her about wounds to the “genitals, abdomen, legs and buttocks", with some having their “breasts cut off". She also highlighted that first responders found bodies “with their hands cuffed behind their backs, a woman’s corpse bleeding from the genital area".
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR KID
12-year-old French-Israeli boy Eitan Yahalomi was kept in solitary confinement for 16 days, his grandmother Esther Yaeli said while speaking to news agency Walla. “The days that he was alone were horrible. Now Eitan appears very withdrawn. The noises of the bombs hurt him, his ears hurt for a very long time," Esther Yaeli was quoted as saying by Walla.
‘FEAR OF RAPE’
Mia Shem, a 21-year-old tattoo artist, who was among 250 people taken hostage during Hamas’s October 7 attacks on southern Israel, said she feared rape when she was being held captive in the family home of her kidnapper in the Gaza Strip.
ALSO READ | ‘My Greatest Fear Was Rape’: Freed French-Israeli Hostage Recounts Ordeal in Hamas Captivity
Speaking to Israel’s Channel 13, Shem said the only reason her kidnapper, affiliated with the Hamas terrorist group, did not rape her was because his wife and kids were present. Shem earlier said that she found some families who were working for Hamas. “There was a fear of rape, fear of dying. His wife was outside the room with the kids. That was the only reason he didn’t rape me," Shem said, adding that her captor did not take his eyes off her. Shem was abducted from the site of a desert rave party called the Supernova festival and was released under a truce agreement at the end of November.
