‘I was scared they would rape me and parade my body in Gaza… I feared that more than death’: Israeli who was sexually assaulted while held hostage describes horror she endured after she was abducted
- Amit Soussana, 40, was taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 attacks
An Israeli woman who was sexually assaulted while held hostage in Gaza has described the horror she endured after being kidnapped.
Amit Soussana, 40, was taken hostage by Hamas during their attacks on Israel on October 7 and released 55 days later.
The female hostage has described how she was surrounded and taken by ten men who she tried to fight off before being transported to Gaza and chained in a dark room for three weeks.
In the new documentary “Screams Before Silence,” Ms. Soussana said: “There were ten men standing around me. The feeling that they were taking me as if I were some kind of object, I couldn’t stand it.
“My instinct was just to fight and do what I can. I was really afraid that they would rape me there, and that they would drag me through the streets of Gaza and parade my body around. I was more afraid of that than of being killed.”
Amit Soussana, 40, (pictured) was taken hostage by Hamas during their attacks on Israel on October 7 and released 55 days later
The female hostage has described how she was surrounded and taken to Gaza by ten men
Ms. Soussana, an Israeli lawyer, said she was then taken to Gaza and held in a dark room for three weeks, where she was watched by a guard.
‘I was chained in Gaza for three weeks. “I was kept in a very dark room without being able to move,” she said.
‘Every time I had to go to the toilet, I had to ask for permission.
‘His name was Mohammed. He always sat in front of me on the bed, in his shorts.
‘Lying down, I remember I couldn’t look at him – I just looked away and covered myself with a blanket so I didn’t have to look at him. It made me feel very uncomfortable.’
She added: ‘He also kept asking me do I like sex, do I have sex with my boyfriend, and every time he talked about it I just giggled and said ‘oh come on, stop, stop’, trying to change the subject.
‘I knew he was up to something. I knew something was going to happen.”
Ms Soussana described how she was given sanitary pads for her period and told to shower after her monthly cycle ended.
“One day Mohammed came and gave me sanitary towels for women,” she said.
‘He said, ‘When you have your period, take a shower and wash your clothes.’ And he kept repeating that a few times a day.
Ms Soussana previously revealed how she was sexually abused while held captive by Hamas
Ms. Soussana, an Israeli lawyer, said she was then taken to Gaza and held in a dark room for three weeks and watched by a guard.
“Then I got my period, and the period only lasted one day, but I fooled him into thinking the period continued until I couldn’t lie anymore.”
Ms Soussana previously revealed how she was sexually assaulted by guard Muhammad while held captive by Hamas.
Ms Soussana alleged that the security guard, with his “gun pointed at me, forced me to perform a sexual act on him” in a child’s bedroom.
The female hostage claimed she was sexually abused, beaten and tortured while held in Gaza for 55 days.
The Israeli lawyer was released in November during a ceasefire along with 21-year-old Mia Schem.