40-year-old Amit Soussana, a lawyer by profession, 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.
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.
It should be noted that Amit’s abduction had gone viral because of the manner in which she was abducted. Videos in social media show Hamas gunmen beating her to subdue her as she attempted to escape from her captors during the October 7 attacks after being kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Azza, a kibbutz stone’s throw away from the Gaza border.
She said ‘Muhammad’ assaulted him after unchaining her to allow her to take a bath.
“He sat me on the edge of the bath. And I closed my legs. And I resisted. And he kept punching me and put his gun in my face. Then he dragged me to the bedroom,” Amit Soussana was quoted as saying by The New York Times.
“He came towards me and shoved the gun at my forehead. Then he, with the gun pointed at me, forced me to commit a sexual act on him,” Amit Soussana said, adding he took her to a children’s bedroom adorned with Spongebob Squarepants decorations to sexually assault her.
She further added that ‘Muhammad’ was always interested in her sex life and frequently walked into her room wearing just underwear, asking if he could give her a massage. The captor also was interested in when she would get her period.
“Every day, he would ask: ‘Did you get your period? Did you get your period? When you get your period, when it will be over, you will wash, you will take a shower and you will wash your clothes,” she said.
Once the abuse ceased, Muhammad expressed remorse, pleading with her, “Please, don’t inform Israel”.
Shortly after, Soussana was relocated to a different hideout, away from Muhammad, but the violence didn’t stop. She alleges she was assaulted by multiple guards over the following weeks at around six locations, including Hamas tunnels. Once, she was bound and suspended between two couches ‘like a chicken’ before being beaten. She suffered various injuries, including fractures in her right eye socket, cheek, knee, and nose, along with severe bruising on her knee and back.
Hamas attempted to cast doubt on her story and has challenged the United Nations report from earlier this month as well which indicated that there is “clear and convincing information” that some of the hostages had suffered sexual violence.
“(It is) difficult to believe the story, unless it was designed by some security officers. For us, the human body, and especially that of the woman, is sacred. (Our religious beliefs) forbid any mistreatment of any human being, regardless of his sex, religion or ethnicity,” spokesman Basem Naim told The New York Times in a statement.
About 130 hostages are still in Hamas custody and negotiations for a ceasefire as well as their release have failed. Hamas killed over 1,200 civilians during the October 7 terror attacks, 32,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s retaliation since.
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