Israeli hostage recounts being sexually assaulted by Hamas guard at gunpoint
An Israeli lawyer held hostage by Hamas for 55 days is the first former hostage to come forward to publicly share details of the sexual violence she suffered, alleging she was held at gunpoint and forced to perform sexual acts.
In several hours of interviews with The New York Times, Amit Soussana, who was abducted from her home on Oct. 7 during Hamas' surprise attack in southern Israel, said she was brutally assaulted before she was released during a temporary ceasefire last November.
Soussana said she was held in a child's bedroom and chained by her ankle. She said a guard would enter the room and sit beside her on the bed before lifting her shirt and fondling her.
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The guard, whom she knew as Muhammad, asked Soussana when her period was going to be over, but when it ended on Oct. 18, she lied and said she was still bleeding.
On Oct. 24, she said the guard unlocked her chain and took her into a bathroom. Soussana had undressed and started to bathe when he returned and stood in the doorway holding a pistol.
"He came towards me and shoved the gun at my forehead," Soussana told The Times.
Soussana said Muhammad forced her to remove her towel; then he hit her again after ordering her to sit on the edge of the bathtub. Dragging her back into the bedroom, Soussana said that Muhammad made her "commit a sexual act on him" while holding her at gunpoint.
The Times notes that Soussana's account is consistent with what she told doctors and a social worker shortly after she was released on Nov. 30.
Soussana said she is sharing her experience to raise awareness about the continued suffering of the remaining hostages.
Basem Naim, a spokesperson for Hamas, attempted to cast doubt on Soussana's claims in a 1,300-word response sent to the outlet, questioning why she did not come forward earlier.
The details in her account make "it difficult to believe the story unless it was designed by some security officers," Naim claimed, adding that an inquiry into Soussana's account is impossible in "the current circumstances."
"For us, the human body, and especially that of the woman, is sacred," Naim was quoted as saying, adding that Hamas' religious beliefs "forbade any mistreatment of any human being, regardless of his sex, religion or ethnicity."
In early March, a United Nations special interest group announced that it had found evidence to support the allegation that Hamas committed mass sexual violence.
The information came to light after U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, led a team to Israel and the West Bank from late January through Feb. 14.
"In the context of the coordinated attack by Hamas and others of 7 October, the U.N. mission team found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred in multiple locations, including rape and gang rape in at least three locations in southern Israel," the U.N. special group stated in a March 4 statement.
Israel launched an offensive in Gaza to eliminate Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, after the terror group's Oct. 7 attack resulted in the deaths of at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the abduction of more than 240 others.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says over 32,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the war started last October. The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, and Hamas has been accused of using civilians as human shields. Similarly, many have expressed skepticism concerning the authenticity of figures provided by Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces released interrogation footage of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist admitting that he raped an Israeli woman during Hamas' Oct. 7 onslaught, The Times of Israel reported. The IDF captured the terrorist, Manar Qassem, earlier this month in Khan Younis.
"The devil took over me; I laid her down, started undressing her, and did what I did," he said during an interrogation by the Military Intelligence Directorate's Unit 504.
At first, Qassem claimed that he had slept with the woman, but when the interrogator pressed him, the terrorist admitted the act had been a rape.
"She pushed me; it didn't last long … two minutes. Maybe a minute and a half," Qassem added.
Officials do not know the woman's fate, according to The Times of Israel, but it's speculated that she is deceased.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
