Rom Braslavski Says Gaza Captors Bound Him, Starved Him, and Humiliated Him

Former hostage Rom Braslavski described nearly two years in Gaza as a period of “whipping, the starvation, the isolation,” saying the “cruel humiliations inflicted on him” were what “broke him.”

“Former hostage Rom Braslavski appeared on Wednesday at the Tel Aviv police station to testify about the assault he allegedly suffered outside a city nightclub”

The Times of Israël

Braslavski said he spent most of the time in Deir al-Balah, first in safe apartments and later inside a vast camp of displaced persons’ tents where “All around me there were tens of thousands of tents.”

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He told the outlet that he was kept bound hand and foot, often completely naked, and forced for hours to stand facing a wall, blindfolded, with stones jammed into his ears so he could hear nothing.

Braslavski said he was abducted as a soldier from the Nova festival, where he worked as a security guard, and he said he was treated especially brutally because “They hated me because I was a soldier.”

He added that after his release he still suffers from chronic pain, nightmares and severe anxiety, and he said, “They forgot the hostages.”

Braslavski later appeared at the Tel Aviv police station to testify about an assault he allegedly suffered outside a city nightclub, after he was refused entry to an event organized at a bar on Rothschild Boulevard.

The Times of Israël reported that Braslavski said “Ziton punched me as if I were a Hamas terrorist,” and he called the incident “crazy.”

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His lawyer, Efraim Dimri, said in a statement that the incident caused “physical and especially emotional” damage and that his client’s psychological state had deteriorated in recent days.

The Times of Israël said that on Monday the Tel Aviv court released Ziton and ordered him to house arrest until Friday, and that prosecutors presented a video showing Ziton kicking Braslavski as he lay on the ground, face down.

In response, Kadri posted on Tuesday that the aired recordings had been altered and said her conversation with Braslavski was “as clear and as transparent as possible.”

Braslavski tied his captivity to the hostage issue becoming a political tool, saying, “As far as I'm concerned, everyone is guilty,” and that “They took our story and turned it into a political struggle.”

“The whipping, the starvation, the isolation”

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He said he wants investigation and accountability, telling the outlet, “Just investigate already. Take responsibility for what happened here.”

In the same account, he said he believes the public has moved on, adding, “People aren't really dealing with our suffering.”

The Times of Israël also placed his testimony in the broader context of the Nova festival attack, saying more than 370 people were killed when terrorists attacked the festival and committed acts of brutality and large-scale sexual violence.

It further said dozens of youths were abducted and taken hostage, and that in November Braslavski revealed that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists holding him captive in Gaza had sexually assaulted and tortured him repeatedly.