Testimonies of physical and sexual abuse, including of children, by hostages while in captivity in Gaza are included in current accounts to feature in an Israeli government report to the United Nations this week. The report, prepared by the Israeli health ministry, is based on testimony from those released last year.
The findings detail appalling incidents of abuse, including burning, beatings, and deliberate starvation inflicted by Hamas captors. The report will be presented to Alice Jill Edwards, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.
Some hostages, including minors, reported being “sexually assaulted or forced to undress under duress,” while women described being tied to beds while their captors watched them, and men also reported severe mistreatment.
Israel has also provided witness accounts by freed hostages detailing sexual attacks, all of which Hamas has repeatedly denied. Amit Soussana, an Israeli woman freed in April this year, recounted after her release how she had been forced to perform oral sex on one of the kidnappers.
The report from the health ministry further detailed acute physical abuse of male captives, including starvation, beatings, and burns with heated metal. Many hostages were deprived of basic needs, leading to inhumane conditions.
Israeli Health Minister Uriel Busso characterized the report as “harrowing testimony to the brutal experiences hostages suffered” in Hamas captivity and urged the international community to pressure Hamas harder to release the remaining captives.
In last year’s Oct 7 attack against Israel, Hamas militants had taken 251 hostages; 105 of them were released during the brief truce late last year. At present, 96 hostages are still held hostage in Gaza, and according to the Israeli military, 34 are presumed dead.
Recent reports, however, give some hope to the negotiation of the hostages’ release and a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Moshe Bar-Siman-Tov, the director general of the health ministry, said: “This critical report underlines the need to release all hostages as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, it is a bluntly sad record of physical abuse and psychological torture which the hostages have faced during all these years. A London-based Israeli campaign group called the Hostages and Missing Families Forum call for a comprehensive deal for their immediate release.
