a former hostage recounts the sexual violence suffered in detention | EUROtoday
Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.
EShe is the primary to testify publicly together with her face uncovered. Amit Soussana, former Hamas hostage, claims to have been sexually abused throughout his captivity in Gaza. In an extended interview with the New York Timesthe 40-year-old Israeli lawyer spoke about her situations of detention and the sexual violence she suffered, notably by one in all her guards.
Journalists from the American every day, who spoke for a number of hours with the previous Hamas hostage, have been additionally in a position to seek the advice of her medical file and query her medical doctors to corroborate her statements.
“Have you had your period?” »
The forty-year-old explains that she was kidnapped from her residence, situated on the Kibbutz of Kfar Aza, through the October 7 assaults carried out by Hamas, by “at least ten men”. After a number of days in captivity, the place she says she was crushed a number of instances, one in all her captors started questioning her about her intercourse life.
READ ALSO Faced with Hamas sexual crimes, the “black hole” of the French-speaking Belgian media She notably claims to have been chained on her left ankle, in a baby's bed room, when one of many guards “came, sat near her on the bed, lifted her t-shirt and touched her”. He was additionally very insistent about his menstrual interval. “Every day he would ask: 'Have you had your period? Have you had your period? When you have your period, when it's over, you will wash yourself, you will take a shower and you will wash your clothes,'” she reviews to New York Times.
Her interval lastly arrived on October 18, however would solely final a day as a result of lack of sleep and meals. She then remembers having “tried to discourage him” by pretending to have bleeding for nearly every week.
“I resisted”
Amit Soussana explains that she was once more assaulted after which sexually assaulted round October 24 by her guard, whom she describes as a “bald and chubby man”. The morning of the assault, he once more insisted that she take a bathe, underneath his supervision, with a gun pointed in her face.
“He sat me on the edge of the bathtub. I closed my legs. And I resisted. He continued to punch me and pointed the gun in my face,” she mentioned. The man then dragged her right into a bed room, “a child's bedroom with SpongeBob posters,” she remembers.
At that time, the jailer “forced her to perform a sexual act on him,” says the New York Times with out revealing the main points of the assault.
“A call to the world to act”
The Hebrew State reacted on the highest stage after Amit Soussana's revelations, reviews Agence France-Presse. This Tuesday, March 26, the spokesperson for the Israeli military known as “the world to act”. “This is a horrific testimony, it is a wake-up call, a call to the world to act, to do everything in their power and to put pressure on Hamas to release our hostages “, said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
“Amit Soussana speaks on behalf of all victims of Hamas’ despicable crimes and sexual assaults […]of all women around the world,” added Israeli President Isaac Herzog on X.
Amit Soussana speaks for all those who cannot speak. She speaks for all the victims of Hamas' despicable sexual crimes and abuse. She speaks for all women everywhere.
The whole world has the moral duty to stand with Amit – and all the victims – in condemning Hamas's brutal…
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) March 26, 2024
A UN investigation printed in early March reported sexual violence dedicated by Hamas members through the October 7 assault. These accusations have been denied by Hamas.
https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/guerre-hamas-israel-une-ancienne-otage-raconte-les-violences-sexuelles-subies-en-detention-27-03-2024-2556126_24.php