Israeli woman held hostage by Hamas speaks out about her abduction and sexual assault in Gaza

Amit Soussana, abducted during the deadly October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in front of her destroyed home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in Israel, on January 29, 2024.

Amit Soussana became the first Israeli woman to speak publicly about what she says was sexual assault and other forms of violence during the 55 days she was in captivity following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, according to a report in The New York Times this Tuesday.

Kidnapped from her home by at least 10 men, Soussana said she was subjected to a series of horrific events that led to her being beaten and dragged to Gaza. The details of Soussana’s captivity paint a grim picture of her suffering; she went from being locked up alone and chained by the ankle to being forced to perform sexual acts at gunpoint, according to The New York Times.

Soussana, who is a lawyer, was released at the end of November 2023 as part of an exchange of hostages kidnapped in Gaza during the Hamas attack by Palestinian prisoners.

“Amit Soussana’s courageous testimony, which describes in detail his horrific captivity, is one of many harrowing accounts from hostages held by Hamas,” the Hostages Families Forum said in a statement.

She added: “Amit is a hero, as are all the hostages who endured this hell for 172 agonizing days. We must bring these brave men and women home before it is too late.”

Soussana’s eight hours of interviews with The New York Times shed light on the psychological and physical torment she said she experienced at the hands of her captors, offering extensive details of her ordeal in multiple locations in Gaza, including private homes and an underground tunnel.

According to Soussana, after a few days of captivity, his guard began asking questions about his sex life.

Soussana said she was kept alone in a child’s room, chained by her left ankle. Sometimes the guard would come in, sit next to her on the bed, lift her nightgown and touch her, she told The New York Times.

Soussana added that the guard repeatedly asked when her period was coming. When the period ended, around October 18, she tried to talk him out of it by pretending he had been bleeding for almost a week.

Around October 24, the guard, who called himself Muhammad, attacked her, she said.

That morning, she said, Muhammad opened her chain and left her in the bathroom. After she undressed and began to wash in the bathtub, Muhammad returned and stood in the doorway, holding a pistol.

“He came towards me and pointed the gun at my forehead”, recalls Soussana. After hitting Soussana and forcing her to take off her towel, “Muhammad groped her, sat her on the edge of the bathtub and hit her again”, reported The New York Times, citing Soussana.

Ayelet Levy Shachar, mother of hostage Naama Levy, 19, who was captured on video being dragged by her hair from the back of a jeep at gunpoint in Gaza, her sweatpants stained of blood, said: “Amit’s horrific testimony is further proof that our loved ones in Gaza suffer physical, sexual and psychological torture every day. Each day there is like an eternity.”

What happened to Amit “is the same nightmare that so many other hostages, women and men, face every day in captivity. Perhaps even at this very moment. We are begging you – your lives are at risk. Bring our daughters and all our loved ones back to us now – before it’s too late.”

In early March, the United Nations published a report that indicated that rape and gang rape, among other acts of sexual violence, had likely occurred during the October 7 Hamas attack and that there was “clear and convincing” evidence of that the hostages had been raped while detained in Gaza and that those currently detained continue to be victims of such abuse.

Hamas official Basem Naim denied the UN report on sexual assaults in an interview with CNN earlier this month.

On Tuesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Soussana “speaks for all those who cannot speak. She speaks for all the victims of Hamas’ despicable crimes and sexual abuse. She speaks for all women everywhere “, according to a post on his X account, commenting on The New York Times article.