‘I closed my legs and resisted’ Isreali lady recounted how she was abused in captivity in Gaza

A female Israeli, Amit Soussana, has recounted how she was s3xually assaulted by a guard while she was held captive by Hamas.

Amit Soussana, 40, disclosed that a man detailed to guard her in captivity, who according to her identified himself only as Muhammad, forced her to commit a sexual act on him in a child’s bedroom.

Ms Soussana, 40, told the New York Times that she was sexually assaulted, as well as beaten and tortured, while she was held in Gaza for 55 days. The Israeli lawyer was released during a ceasefire in November alongside 21-year-old Mia Schem.

Hamas spokesman Basem Naim, in a statement to the newspaper, said it was ‘difficult to believe’ Ms Soussana’s account of sexual abuse and added that ‘for us, the human body, and especially that of the woman, is sacred’.

The terrorist group, for months, has denied that its members sexually abused people in captivity or during the October 7 attack.

However, a United Nations (UN) report released this month stated there is ‘clear and convincing information’ that some hostages had suffered sexual violence. There are also ‘reasonable grounds’ that some people were assaulted during the raid, the report added.

Ms Soussana, 40, was abducted from her home during the October 7 raid, beaten and dragged into Gaza by a group of at least seven gunmen.

Ms Soussana, during her kidnapping, refused to go quietly. She was kicking and screaming until her captors bundled her into a car to drive back to Gaza

While in captivity, she said she was held alone in a child’s bedroom and chained by her left ankle. She claims that just several days after she had been taken, Muhammad started questioning her about her sex life and menstrual cycle.

Muhammad attacked her on or around October 24, Ms Soussana told the Times. She claims that he unchained her, took her to the bathroom and ordered that she bathe.

As she washed herself, the lawyer recalled hearing his voice by the door, telling her ‘Quickly, Amit, quickly’. She then turned around to find him standing there, with his gun, and watching her.

Ms Soussana said she tried to cover herself with a hand towel, but Muhammad advanced towards her and hit her.

‘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,’ she told the newspaper. ‘Then he dragged me to the bedroom.’

She alleged that while in the bedroom, which was reportedly decorated with images of children’s cartoon characters, Muhammad forced her to commit a sexual act on him, before leaving her naked, sitting in the dark and sobbing on the bed.

Ms Soussana, who noted that Muhammad had left her alone to wash himself, claimed her attacker showed remorse after the assault, allegedly saying to her: ‘I’m bad, I’m bad, please don’t tell Israel.’

She reported the alleged assault and other violence to two doctors and a social worker less than 24 hours after she was freed from captivity, according to the Times.

It is understood that she also spoke to the UN team that published the report on sexual violence against hostages in Gaza and during the October 7 attack.

Ms Soussana has also revealed how about three weeks into her kidnapping she was moved to another location, which she described as an apartment, and reunited with other hostages.

She recalled being summoned into the living room, a few days after her arrival, for a brutal beating by a group of guards who apparently believed she was hiding information from them.

The lawyer said the guards wrapped her head in a shirt, forced her to sit on the floor and beat her with the butt of a gun. They then put duct tape over her mouth and nose, tied her feet, and handcuffed her, Ms Soussana recalled.

The guards then reportedly hung her ‘like a chicken’ between two couches and continued to beat and kick her, while demanding she reveal the information they believed she was hiding.

‘It was like that for 45 minutes or so,’ she said. ‘They were hitting me and laughing and kicking me, and called the other hostages to see me.’

After they untied her, Ms Soussana said the guards took her back to a bedroom and threatened to kill her if she did not produce the requested information within 40 minutes. She said that she still does not know exactly what information they sought.

Ms Soussana lived alone in Kfar Aza and was an easy target for Hamas attackers, who discovered her hiding in a safe room in her property on October 7.

Astonishing footage, captured by a security camera, showed how she fought to free herself from Hamas as they dragged her back to Gaza during their ruthless raid.

Holding her down, the attackers can be seen slapping Ms Soussana as they attempted to wrap her in a shawl or blanket, but still she fought back, twisting and kicking. Eventually, the captors were forced to bundle her into a car to get her back to Gaza as they were unable to drag her on foot.

More than 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered on October 7 irrespective of whether they tried to flee or resist their attackers, but Ms Soussana was one of several hostages who were taken and spent almost eight weeks days living in captivity.

She was released by Hamas along with Ms Schem, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, on November 30, just one day before the week-long truce between Israel and Hamas expired and hostilities resumed. During the truce, Hamas released 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. Twenty-five other captives, mostly Thais, were freed outside the scope of the deal.

Israel on Tuesday recalled its negotiators from Doha after deeming mediated talks on a Gaza truce ‘at a dead end’ due to demands by Hamas, a senior Israeli official has said.

The official, who is close to the Mossad spymaster heading up the talks, accused Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar of sabotaging the diplomacy ‘as part of a wider effort to inflame this war over Ramadan’.

The warring sides had stepped up negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a six-week suspension of Israel’s offensive in return for the proposed release of 40 of the 130 hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.

Hamas has sought to parlay any deal into an end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel has ruled this out, saying it would eventually resume efforts to dismantle the governance and military capabilities of Hamas.

Hamas also wants hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled Gaza City and surrounding areas southward during the first stage of the almost six-month-old war to be allowed back north. The Israeli official said that Israel had agreed to double the number of Palestinians it would release for the hostages at to 700-800 prisoners and allow some displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday Hamas had made ‘delusional’ demands, which it said showed the Palestinians were not interested in a deal.

Hamas has accused Israel of stalling at the talks while it carries out its military offensive.

The discussions, mediated by Egypt and Qatar, are continuing as a humanitarian crisis devastates Palestinians in Gaza with severe shortages of food, medicine and hospital care. Concerns are growing that famine will take hold.