‘Right now someone is being raped in a tunnel’: Knesset hears of Hamas sex crimes
Former hostage claims that captors treat hostages as sex dolls; another survivor observes some female hostages not getting their periods and prays that they will not become pregnant.
The survivors of the October 7 hostage crisis testified to the Knesset that they were regularly sexually abused by their guards, who treated them as “dolls”. This is just one more piece of evidence to show how Hamas has weaponized sexual violence and continues to abuse captives.
“I saw it myself,” said Aviva Siegel. She and her husband Keith were abducted on October 7, from Kibbutrz Kfar Aza, but released in late November during a truce.
“I felt like the girls were my daughters.” The terrorists dress the girls in doll clothes and make them their dolls. She said that dolls on a chain could be used to do anything, at any time.
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It’s just too much. “I can’t breath, I can’t handle it, it’s hard.” “It’s been almost four months, and they are still there,” said she.
My body is still there. “My body is still there.” They also suffer abuse, just like the girls. They may not get pregnant, but they are puppets on a line.”
Shir, Aviva’s daughter told legislators that her mother’s testimony was only “the tip of the iceberg” and expressed anger at the fact that ministers weren’t present to hear these accounts.
The hostages are “sitting in captivity. They have done nothing wrong!” We cannot just sit there, we must scream. Shir, a kibbutz member who was not present at the Hamas attack on that day, said: “Right now someone is being raped inside a tunnel.”
Where are the important people?” She asked, “Are the decision makers in the cabinet not hearing us?”
Aviva, who’s husband Keith is still in Hamas custody, said to the Knesset Hostage Caucus earlier this week that she personally saw another hostage tortured while in captivity.
Siegel, in her testimony earlier, described how, at one point during their captivity a female hostage younger than Siegel returned from the bathroom looking distraught. When she tried to hug the girl, the terrorist who was guarding the hostages intercepted and stopped the embrace.
Siegel stated, “I noticed that she seemed withdrawn and quiet. She was not herself.” “And please excuse my language but this son-of-a-bitch touched her. He wouldn’t let me even hug her afterwards. It’s awful, just terrible. “I told her that I was sorry.”
Hamas committed widespread sexual assaults during its attack against southern Israel. Thousands of terrorists invaded the area by land, air and sea. They killed 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians, and took 253 other hostages into Gaza.
Israel believes that over 130 hostages are still in Gaza, though not all are alive. IDF confirmed that 28 hostages still being held by Hamas have died, citing fresh intelligence and information obtained by troops in Gaza.
Chen Goldstein Almog said that some women in Gaza who were released along with three of their four children, during the ceasefire have not been getting their period.
She said, “Maybe we should pray for that. That the body is protecting itself, so that they, God forbid them, will not be able get pregnant.”
Goldstein Almog told Channel 12 that her daughter Agam, 17, was frightened of being raped and sexually abused while they were in captivity. They also said that the captors teased Agam, saying that she would get “married” in Gaza to someone and that “they would find [her] husband.”
“There were 19-year old girls who lived alone in the camp for 50 days. They went through difficult personal experiences. Chen stated at the time that they were abused, hurt, and some were even injured.
Agam Goldstein Almog, in testimony shown at the Knesset Hostages Caucus Hearing earlier this month described how she and her mom were once moved into a small tunnel where six women had been held.
She said that “many girls were subjected to severe sexual abuse.” They had severe and complex wounds, which were not treated.
Adi Arad, a singer and actress who has worked on behalf of hostages, said at the hearing of Tuesday that the mother asked her whether it was possible to ship abortion pills via the Red Cross to Gaza.
MK Shelly Tel Meron, a Yesh Atid MK and one of the hearing’s organizers, said: “We might find ourselves in a few weeks in the Knesset having discussions I don’t even want to think about.”
It could be a discussion about terminating pregnancy in the next few months. The rabbinate could discuss the religion of babies born in this or that country. Tal Meron, who argued that this was a serious issue to be prevented, said it could be the legal standing or status of these possible babies.
“We have an obligation to bring them back quickly and alive. We don’t like pictures of planes carrying caskets covered with Israeli flags. “We want them alive and here right now,” she said.
The government has been criticized by lawmakers for its efforts to help Israelis who suffered sexual assaults on October 7.
At an earlier hearing this month, MK Pnina Takano-Shata, chair of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality alleged that the agencies dealing with the issue had failed to coordinate satisfactorily.
MK Merav Bin Ari (Yesh Atid), who called the National Resilience Center hotline at that time, was made to wait for over 12 minutes before the person on the other side hung up.
Raping is murdering the soul and no one answers the call. Reach out to those who have been harmed. You must go to the victims and knock at their home. “Or go to hospitals,” declared she then.
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