A former hostage in the Gaza Strip has revealed that she suffered physical and sexual abuse, in the latest evidence of sex crimes committed by Hamas fighters during and after the October 7 attack.
Ilana Gritzewsky, 31, spoke to the New York Times more than a year after being freed on 30 November, 2023. Her partner Matan Zangauker, 25, remains a hostage.
Gritzewsky told the Times that she and Zangauker tried to flee as terrorists invaded their kibbutz, Nir Oz. The couple became separated and were taken separately to Gaza; they have not seen each other since.
As she was being taken into Gaza on a motorcycle, she said gunmen burned her leg by pressing it against the exhaust pipe, and the man sitting behind her groped her repeatedly. She fainted during the journey, she said.
Gritzewsky recounted waking up in a run-down building in Gaza surrounded by gunmen, with her shirt pulled up and her trousers pulled down. She told them she had her period, which she said probably saved her from worse abuse. “I don’t think I have ever been so thankful for my period,” the Times quoted her as saying.
During her 55 days in captivity, Gritzewsky was moved from place to place, mostly above ground, including to ostensibly civilian private residences, a hospital and, just before her release, a tunnel.
One of the terrorists identified himself as a maths teacher and another said he was a lawyer, according to Gritzewsky, who told the Times that the two stole her earrings and a bracelet. They interrogated her about her mandatory Israel Defense Forces service, which she completed around a decade ago.
She recalled telling her captors that she was suffering from a chronic digestive disease but was not given any medication.
At one point, a captor hugged her and told her, while pointing his gun at her, that even if there would be a hostage deal, she would not be released, because he wanted to marry her and have children, Gritzewsky told the Times.
Other former hostages have recounted physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their Hamas captors. Last year Amit Soussana, who was released at the same time as Gritzewsky, spoke of being forced at gunpoint to commit sex acts.
Since her release Gritzewsky has campaigned for the release of the other hostages who remain in captivity, including her partner Zangauker.
“If I am out, it’s a sign that God wanted me to raise my voice to help those who are alive gain their freedom and bring back the dead for a proper burial,” she said.
On Dec. 7, 2024, Hamas released a video of Zangauker. “It wasn’t my Matan,” Gritzewsky told the Times. “He was thin, with frightened eyes, screaming from within to be saved.”
“It broke me, but it also gave me hope,” she said. “He survived.”
