Israeli Hostage Amit Soussana Says Hamas Guard Assaulted Her At Gunpoint In Gaza

An Israeli hostage, Amit Soussana, released from Hamas's prisons on November 30, told the New York Times she was sexually assaulted at gunpoint by one of her guards during her captivity in Gaza.

“The latest opinion piece by journalist Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times caused a shockwave in political and media circles, not only lifting the veil on the violence in Israeli prisons, but also exposing Israel's strategy of masking it”

Al-Jazeera Net

Le Figaro says Soussana, a 40-year-old Israeli lawyer from the Kfar Aza kibbutz, was kidnapped during Hamas commandos' attack in southern Israel and described being dragged to Gaza by at least ten men, some armed.

Al-Jazeera Net

Le Figaro reports that around October 24 her jailer removed a chain from her left ankle, left her in a bathroom, and later forced her, "with the weapon pointed at me, to commit a sexual act."

Le Figaro also says Israeli authorities reported that 130 of 250 people kidnapped on October 7 remain hostages in Gaza, and that 34 of them have died, while a United Nations report published in early March documented sexual violence committed by Hamas members during the October 7 attack.

A New York Times investigation by Nicholas Kristof, discussed in Arabic-language coverage, relied on interviews with 14 victims and was framed as documenting "The Silence that Meets Palestinian Rape."

آخر خبر says Kristof’s piece triggered a counterattack in which Israel’s diplomatic and media machine targeted the writer and victims under the banner of the term 'blood libel,' after Kristof described threats of death or re-rape if testimony was given.

CAPJPO EuroPalestine

The same article says the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement attacking the newspaper and the writer, describing the report as the worst 'blood libel' in the history of modern journalism.

آخر خبر also reports that broadcaster Piers Morgan expressed shock, describing what happened as "a horrific, shameful, and flagrantly disgraceful display."

In an annual report to the United Nations Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on August 12 that Israel and Russia could be among the bodies next year most likely suspected of committing rapes or other forms of sexual violence in Gaza and Ukraine.

“In his annual report to the United Nations Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on August 12 that Israel and Russia could be among the bodies next year most likely suspected of committing … rapes or other forms of sexual violence in the respective war zones of Gaza and Ukraine”

Courrier international

Courrier international says Guterres urged Israel to take "the necessary measures to ensure an immediate cessation of all acts of sexual violence," and it cites UN-described practices including genital violence, prolonged forced nudity, and repeated strip searches.

Courrier international also says approximately 4,000 Palestinians are said to have passed through Sde Teiman since the Gaza war began, and that Israel transferred hundreds of Palestinian detainees from Sde Teiman to other locations after a petition by human rights groups calling for its closure.

L'Orient-Le Jour adds that a New York Times investigation published on Monday was based on 14 testimonies collected in the occupied West Bank, and it reports that the Israeli Foreign Ministry disputed the article as an "anti-Israeli, false and carefully orchestrated" campaign.