2024-03-26 20:09:29
Abroad Israeli hostage
“He kept hitting me. Then he dragged me into the bedroom.”
As of 9:09 p.m. | Reading time: 4 minutes
Amit Soussana in front of her destroyed house in Kibbutz Kfar Aza at the end of January
What: REUTERS
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The Israeli Amit Soussana was held by Hamas terrorists for 54 days. Now she is publicly reporting on her brutal kidnapping, torture in the tunnels – and sexual abuse by her guard.
On October 7, Israeli lawyer Amit Soussana was kidnapped by gunmen from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Gaza border. She was held hostage by the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip for 54 days. After her release as part of an exchange for Palestinian prisoners at the end of November, Soussana spoke publicly regarding her time in Gaza.
Now she has told the New York Times in detail for the first time what was done to her. During her captivity, she was repeatedly exposed to physical attacks, torture, humiliation and frightening situations. And she also reports sexual abuse.
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Soussana told The New York Times that she was beaten during her abduction on October 7. Images from a surveillance camera support her statements. The 40-year-old explained that she was tied hand and foot and taken to the Gaza Strip.
“I saw that my face was all swollen and blue”
She was held captive in a private house in Gaza. Initially guarded by three men. She was chained to a window frame by her ankle.
Around October 11th she was taken to another room, led by a chain. There was a mirror there. She might see herself like this for the first time since her kidnapping. “I saw the chains and I saw that my face was all swollen and blue,” Soussana said. “And I just started crying.”
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After that, she was only guarded by one of the three men, whom she calls Muhammad. Sometimes the guard came into her room, sat next to her on the bed, pushed up her shirt and touched her, Soussana said.
One morning when she wanted to wash in the bathroom, he stood behind her in the doorway with a gun. She wanted to cover herself with a towel, but was hit by him. “He sat me on the edge of the bathtub. And I closed my legs. And I fought back. And he kept hitting me and pointing his gun in my face,” Soussana said. “Then he dragged me into the bedroom.” He forced her at gunpoint to perform a sexual act on him, is how the “New York Times” puts Soussana’s statement.
Torture in the Hamas tunnel
Later he was also held in a Hamas tunnel. Here too she was beaten. The guards taped her mouth and nose shut, bound her feet and handcuffed her, Soussana reported. She was then hung on a pole between two sofas “like a chicken”. She was in so much pain that she thought her hands would be dislocated.
According to The New York Times, Soussana’s personal account of her experiences in detention matches what she told two doctors and a social worker less than 24 hours following her release on November 30. It was agreed with the victim that the details would not be made public.
Hamas denies rape
Hamas persistently denies that its terrorists committed sexual crimes when attacking Israel or handling hostages, despite an overwhelming weight of circumstantial evidence proving this. A Hamas spokesman contacted by The New York Times denied the woman’s statements were credible and described them as “constructions of (Israeli) intelligence officers.”
Victims of rape and sexual violence are traumatized and find it extremely difficult to speak publicly regarding what has happened to them. The woman told the New York Times that she wanted to draw attention to the suffering of the approximately 100 hostages who are still in the hands of Hamas.
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Terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups attacked southern Israel on October 7th. In an unprecedented massacre, they killed 1,200 people and kidnapped another 250 to the Gaza Strip. Already during the attack, the terrorists committed massive sexual crimes once morest their victims. The report by a special representative of the United Nations considers statements from survivors, eyewitnesses and doctors to be credible. The same report from the beginning of March considers information that sexual violence has been and is still being committed once morest abducted hostages to be convincing.
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