Israel’s Health Ministry revealed the sexual abuse and torture suffered by Hamas hostages, including children, in a report sent last week to the United Nations special rapporteur on torture and other cruel treatment or punishment. inhumane or degrading, Alice J. Edwards.
The treatment inflicted by the kidnappers includes violent beatings, branding, sexual violence, deprivation of food and water, hair pulling and even isolation. The hostages injured on October 7, 2023, during the terrorist attack did not receive appropriate medical treatment, and if they received medical attention, they were treated without anesthesia.
Pre-existing medical conditions were not treated. At least one captive died and several others required immediate emergency medical care after returning to Israel during last year’s ceasefire and hostage release deal.
According to medical data, half of those who returned were starving. Upon their return, some showed signs of being overfed by the captors to improve the hostages’ appearance and weight before sending them back to Israel in the November 2023 deal.
From the moment the hostages were taken to the Gaza Strip, after witnessing the terrible violence and death of their friends and families, as well as the destruction of their homes in southern Israel during the massacre, “they suffered beatings, humiliation and verbal, physical and sexual violence during the journey”.
Two of the children who returned reported being tied together, and two others had branding marks that witnesses who returned said were intentionally inflicted. One of the returned hostages said she was sexually assaulted at gunpoint, while others were forced to strip under surveillance.
In addition to forced separation from their families, lack of movement and arbitrary transfers, the hostages also witnessed the assassination of other captives before their eyes. The conditions in which they were detained led to a series of psychological consequences, according to the report.
Some reportedly suffer from “survivor’s guilt”, are reluctant to speak about their experiences for fear of reprisals from those still in captivity, and even wish to return to captivity to help those still held by terrorists.
Many of those who returned had no homes to return to, as their communities lay in ruins. Some had little or no appetite after their return, while others gorged themselves, even though they knew it was irrational, for fear of having nothing to eat the next day.
