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Israeli Hostage Says She Was Sexually Assaulted and Tortured in Gaza
(New York Times) Patrick Kingsley and Ronen Bergman - Amit Soussana, 40, an Israeli lawyer, was abducted from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Azza on Oct. 7, beaten and dragged into Gaza by at least 10 men, some armed. She said she was held alone in a child's bedroom, chained by her left ankle. Sometimes, the guard would enter, sit beside her on the bed, lift her shirt and touch her, she said. Around Oct. 24, the guard, who called himself Muhammad, attacked her. That morning, she said, Muhammad unlocked her chain and left her in the bathroom. After she undressed and began washing herself in the bathtub, Muhammad returned and stood in the doorway, holding a pistol. "He came towards me and shoved the gun at my forehead," she recalled during eight hours of interviews with the New York Times in mid-March. Muhammad hit her and dragged her at gunpoint back to the child's bedroom. "Then he, with the gun pointed at me, forced me to commit a sexual act on him." In her interviews, she provided extensive details of sexual and other violence she suffered during a 55-day ordeal. Her account of her experience is consistent with what she told two doctors and a social worker less than 24 hours after she was freed on Nov. 30. She said she had decided to speak out now to raise awareness about the plight of the hostages still in Gaza.