Amit Soussana has become the first Israeli woman to talk publicly about surviving sexual assault and other types of violence during her 55-day imprisonment following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, according to The New York Times on Tuesday.
At least ten men abducted Soussana from her house, subjecting her to a horrific series of incidents that included abuse and hauling her into Gaza. The New York Times paints a horrific picture of Soussana’s incarceration, detailing her solitary confinement, ankle chains, and forced sexual acts under the threat of a pistol.
Late November 2023 saw the release of Soussana, a lawyer, as part of a hostage exchange for Palestinian detainees seized in Gaza during the Hamas attack.
“Amit Soussana’s courageous testimony detailing her horrific captivity is one of many harrowing accounts from hostages held by Hamas,” said the Hostages Families Forum.
It went on to say, “Amit is a hero, as are all of the hostages who have endured this living hell for 172 agonizing days.” We must bring these courageous ladies and men home before it is too late.”
Soussana’s eight hours of interviews with The New York Times shed light on the psychological and physical torture she claimed she endured at the hands of her captors, providing detailed accounts of her ordeal at multiple sites in Gaza, including private residences and a subterranean tunnel.
Several days into her detention, she claimed, the guard began inquiring about her sexual history.
Soussana claimed that the police detained her alone in a child’s bedroom while tying her left ankle. The officer would occasionally enter, sit next to her on the bed, lift her shirt, and touch her, she told The New York Times.
Soussana stated that the guard kept asking when her menstruation was due. When her menstruation finished around October 18, she tried to put him off by stating she had been bleeding for nearly a week.
Around October 24, the guard, who went by the name Muhammad, attacked her, she alleged.
She claimed that Muhammad unfastened her chain early that morning and left her in the restroom. Muhammad returned to the doorway, clutching a revolver, after she had stripped and begun to wash herself in the bathtub.
“He came towards me and shoved the gun at my forehead,” Soussana recalled. According to Soussana, after punching her and forcing her to remove her towel, “Muhammad groped her, sat her on the edge of the bathtub, and hit her again,” according to The New York Times.
“Amit’s horrifying testimony is more proof that our loved ones in Gaza face physical, sexual, and psychological torture every day,” Dr. Ayelet Levy Shachar, mother of 19-year-old hostage Naama Levy, said. Every day seems to go forever.”
She stated that what happened to Amit is “the same nightmare that many other hostages, both men and women, face every day in captivity.” Perhaps even at this time. We beg; their lives are on the line. “Bring our daughters and all of our loved ones back to us now, before it’s too late.”
Earlier in March, the United Nations issued a report indicating that rape and gang rape, among other acts of sexual violence, were likely committed during the October 7 Hamas attack, that there was “clear and convincing” evidence that hostages were raped while being held in Gaza, and that those currently held captive are still subjected to such abuse.
