The report of the Israeli government is to be submitted to the United Nations (UN) in the coming days, according to which hostages freed from the Gaza Strip were physically and sexually abused during their captivity. TASR reports according to the AFP agency.
Israel Ministry of Health Report based on the testimonies of former prisoners and according to AFP, it details cases where their captors from the Palestinian movement Hamas beat them or deliberately left them to starve.
Some hostages including children, according to the report, were “sexually abused or forced to undress, including at gunpoint”. The female hostages reportedly described being tied to beds while their captors looked on. According to the report, men were also severely abused. Israel has previously submitted reports and released testimonies from hostages detailing sexual abuse in captivity, which Hamas has repeatedly denied.
It is “a harrowing testimony to the brutal experiences of the hostages in Hamas captivity… The horrors they endured reveal to the world the brutality of the enemy Israel is fighting,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement. According to Israel, the international community must intensify pressure on the militants to release the remaining prisoners held in the Gaza Strip.
During the attack on Israel on October 7 last year, militants led by Hamas took 251 hostages. Several of them were released or freed. According to AFP, 96 hostages remain in the Palestinian enclave, including 34 who are believed to be dead by the Israeli army.
