Israel
Women and men are being raped by Hamas says released hostage
“At this very moment there is someone being raped in a tunnel”
January 23, 2024 16:10
By, Jane Prinsley
2 min read
“At this very moment there is someone being raped in a tunnel”
January 23, 2024 16:10ByJane Prinsley, Jane Prinsley
Released hostage Aviva Siegel and her daughter Shir say that both women and men are being raped in Hamas captivity.
Speaking to Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset, Aviva said that inside the tunnels in Gaza: “The terrorists bring inappropriate clothes for the girls, the clothes of dolls. They turned the girls into their dolls, that they can do whatever they want with. And it’s unbelievable that they’re still there”.
Aviva said: “I want to tell you that the boys go through these things too. They can’t get pregnant, but they also go through it. And something must change now”.
She went on, “I would like to go back to captivity to protect the girls there like I did when I was there. I felt like they were my daughters.”
“My heart is there and it’s exploding. I can’t understand how the world is silent.”
Aviva was abducted from her home in Kfar Aza with her husband Keith, who is still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
She told the Knesset: “We’ll soon reach four months [since they were kidnapped]. We were there for 51 days and there wasn’t a minute that we didn’t experience abuse – and they are still there.”
“I can’t breathe, I can’t deal with it, it’s too hard. It’s been nearly four months and they are still there”.
Aviva’s daughter, Shir, said that her mother’s testimony was “only the tip of the iceberg.”
“They are sitting in captivity, they have not done anything wrong! We have no right to just sit here, we need to scream for them. At this very moment there is someone being raped in a tunnel,” Shir said.
The daughter blasted government ministers who were not present to hear the testimony: “Where is the cabinet, that they may hear these stories? Where are the decision makers? Where are they to listen, to shed a tear – what are they busy with?”
Shir continued: “The girls are being raped there and nobody reports on it. We no longer have the option of sitting here and continuing to talk politely. At this very moment, there is somebody sitting in a cave being raped.
“Enough talking, if it was your daughters, your young sons… How much is it possible to suffer?”
Chen Goldstein Almog, another released hostage, told the Knesset: “There are girls there [in Gaza] who have not had their period for a long time and maybe that’s what we should be praying for, that it’s the body protecting itself so that, God forbid, they will not be able to get pregnant.”
Hamas used rape on October 7 as a weapon of war and numerous testimonies have indicated that the terror group have continued to sexually abuse and assault hostages in Gaza.
More than 130 hostages are still being held by the terror group in Gaza, but not all of them are alive.