Teens forced to perform sexual acts on each other: Report to UN details Hamas torture
Government document compiles grim details of abuse of hostages, including whipping, branding with heated iron, isolation, binding, starving, maltreatment and psychological torment
While in captivity in Gaza last year, two Israeli teenage hostages were forced to perform sexual acts on one another, and their captors sexually abused them, according to new details from a Health Ministry report set to be presented to the United Nations.
The testimony and many other damning details are included in a report cataloging the physical, sexual and mental anguish the now-former abductees — some of them children — were subjected to, and the lasting effects it has had on them.
It is set to be submitted this week to Alice Edwards, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Compiled from the testimonies of hostages who were released under a November 2023 deal and those who were rescued by Israeli forces, the report details how they were burned and beaten, starved and humiliated, as well as how the abuse impacted their mental and physical health even long after they were freed.
It marks the first formal report by the Health Ministry about the hostages’ experiences.
However, some of the most graphic details included in a Hebrew-language copy of the report issued by the ministry, were absent from the English-language version. It was unclear why there was a discrepancy or which version would end up being filed to the UN.
While the Health Ministry did not answer a Times of Israel query on the matter on Sunday, the Ynet news site quoted an unnamed ministry source claiming the discrepancy was an “honest mistake that will be fixed before the report is filed to the UN.”
To protect the hostages’ identities, their names, ages and family statuses — as well as their genders, in the cases of minors — were not included.
According to the report, the terrorist captors forced two minors to perform sexual acts on one another and compelled them to take off their clothes in front of them, touched their private parts, and whipped their genitalia.
The same two former hostages also reported that “they were held bound and were beaten throughout their captivity. Signs of binding, scars, and marks consistent with trauma were found,” the report says.
“Additionally, two young children had burn marks on their lower limbs,” the report adds. “One child stated that the burns were the result of a deliberate branding with a heated object. Both the child and adults who were with him in captivity described the incident as a purposeful branding event, not an accident. It was described as an extremely traumatic experience.”
The report says that some hostages were kept for days in darkness, with their hands and feet bound, and received little food or water. They were beaten all over their bodies, and some had hair pulled out.
“One of the returned hostages described being sexually assaulted at gunpoint by a Hamas terrorist,” the report says. “On several occasions, captors forced women of all ages to undress while others, including the captors, watched. Some women reported that the captors sexually assaulted them. In addition, some women reported that they were tied to beds while their captors stared at them.”
Israel has previously presented reports and released testimonies from hostages detailing sexual abuses in captivity, which Hamas has denied.
Some former hostages have spoken publicly. Earlier this year, freed hostage Amit Soussana told The New York Times of how she was forced to perform “a sexual act” on one of her captors.
Conditions were ‘designed to torture the hostages psychologically’
A total of 251 hostages were abducted from Israel on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people.
Ninety-six of them remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Released hostages related to authorities that they were deliberately separated from other family members who were being held. In one case, a woman was held in complete isolation, in darkness, bound, receiving very little water and food and not getting treatment for injuries.
“The hostages were denied medical treatment for acute injuries caused during October 7 and subsequently, in addition to for untreated chronic conditions,” the document says. “Fractures, shrapnel wounds, and burns were treated inadequately, leading to complications which required additional surgeries, that could have been prevented with proper care.
“The captors also tortured those injured by performing painful procedures without anesthesia. Many hostages also suffered from untreated chronic conditions (e.g., heart failure, diabetes, hypothyroidism), leading to severe short-term medical deterioration. In one case a hostage died from untreated medical complications,” it goes on.
Captives, including children, were forced to watch videos of the October 7 atrocities. Many of the terrorists who took part in the attack filmed it, including extreme acts of cruelty.
The men, meanwhile, “endured severe physical abuse, including continuous starvation, beatings, burns with galvanized iron (branding), hair-pulling, confinement in closed rooms with a limited amount of food and water, being held in isolation with hands and feet tied, and being denied access to the bathroom, which forced them to defecate on themselves.”
The report says that the captivity “was designed to torture the hostages psychologically, break their morale, and make them easier to control. Their time in captivity was marked by intense trauma: family separation, immobilization, arbitrary and frequent transfers, and exposure to further violence.”
Some captives, the document says, “witnessed the killing of other captives, further deepening their sense of helplessness and hopelessness.
“In captivity, the hostages were often subjected to solitary confinement, poor sanitation, severe medical neglect, lack of sleep, starvation, sexual abuse, violence, threats, and brainwashing through media designed to break their spirit and make them submissive.”
Deliberate starvation and pre-release excess feeding
According to the report, “about half of the returned hostages described being deliberately starved during their captivity. They were given a poor diet, which often led to hunger that worsened over time. In addition to inadequate nutrition, they were kept in dark spaces, increasing the risk of vitamin D deficiency.”
Adult hostages lost an average of eight to 15 kilograms (18 to 33 pounds) — 10-17 percent of their original body weight — while among child captives there was an average loss of 10% in body weight, though in one extreme case, a girl lost as much as 18% of her weight.
The report says that as last year’s ceasefire deal approached, the captors gave the hostages more food and provided them with fresh clothes, apparently in an attempt to present their conditions as better than they were.
“Those who received excess food before returning to Israel were at risk of Refeeding Syndrome and electrolyte imbalances such as hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, and hypophosphatemia, particularly among elderly hostages. In cases with complex medical backgrounds, these electrolyte disorders can be life-threatening,” the report says.
The practice raised concerns among Israeli authorities as to the health dangers of eating too much food immediately after a period of starvation. In particular, authorities are concerned about the fate of the remaining hostages who have now been held for over 440 days in captivity. Efforts are ongoing to finalize another, mediated ceasefire to release more hostages, and authorities are concerned their captors may also try to overfeed them before a potential release.
Troubles continue even after return
Even after returning home, some adults and children suffered acute anxiety and panic attacks, as well as sharp mood swings that include extreme depression, the report says.
“Even those who appeared strong initially showed difficulties adjusting to reality, sometimes experiencing dissociative episodes,” it says. “Some returned hostages had paranoid anxieties, fearing retaliation against their loved ones still in captivity if they spoke about their experiences.”
Some had difficulty leaving home or speaking above a whisper, a reflection of the silence that some were ordered to maintain by their captors. Some were unable to return to their regular lives, whether at work or school.
Former hostages have had difficulty sleeping at night, while some, in particular children, suffer sharp pains that have no medical explanation. Some hostages have eating disorders, either eating too little or overeating. Some children secrete food away.
Some reported “severe nightmares and sleep deprivation, trying to avoid repeating nightmares. Some experienced derealization, struggling to accept their presence in the Israeli hospital as real, rather than a dream from captivity. They avoided anything that reminded them of their traumatic experiences, including certain foods,” the report says.
Many returned hostages “experience fear, restlessness, emotional detachment, and confusion. Some were afraid to leave their rooms, even in the hospital’s protected areas.”
Doctors and psychologists who compiled the report noted that the released hostages said they are unable to fully recover while they know there are others still being held.
Some have “survivor’s guilt,” feeling responsible for being rescued while their loved ones remain in Gaza.
Health Minister Uriel Buso said in a statement last week that it is “a significant report that depicts the atrocities that hostages suffered and reveals to the world the cruelty of the enemies we are dealing with.”
“The testimonies brought here are a wake-up call to the world to put more pressure on Hamas and its supporters to release all of them [the remaining hostages] now,” Buso said.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the report painted “a grim reality of the physical abuse and psychological torment” endured by the hostages.
It urged a comprehensive deal “to secure the immediate release of all hostages.”
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