Israeli hostages in Gaza recount sexual violence during their captivity
"No one will silence me anymore." Romi Gonen, 25, one of the 251 hostages captured during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, described in a televised interview in early January the sexual assaults she endured repeatedly during her captivity. The violence from her captors began in the days following the terrorist attack. A man who identified himself as a nurse followed her into the shower. "I was wounded, powerless and couldn't do anything. He took everything from me," she explained. "And I had to continue living with him in that house afterward." Faced with the repeated and severe assaults, she said she feared becoming "a sex slave." Over the past two years, several Israeli hostages have reported having suffered sexual violence during their captivity, in addition to deprivation, beatings, humiliation and threats. "Sexual violence continued in captivity, with multiple returnees reporting forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sexual assaults, and threats of forced marriage," members of the Dinah Project, a research group, noted in July 2025. Several non-governmental organizations and United Nations representatives also highlighted the sexual assaults committed on October 7, 2023, by Hamas members and other organizations. In the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court at the end of 2024, targeting Mohammed Deif, the military leader of Hamas, the charges included sexual violence committed on October 7 and afterward. "Some hostages, predominantly women, were subjected to sexual and gender based violence, including forced penetration, forced nudity, and humiliating and degrading treatment," the court noted. Recently, men have also reported being subjected to such treatment. Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 23, a hostage released on October 13, 2025, explained in a televised interview in November that he was assaulted by his captor. "He lets me shower, and when I finish the shower, he drags me out and does not let me put on my clothes," the young man said. "He takes me back to their room and then throws me onto one of the armchairs. He started touching my whole body. I froze. I told him: 'You’re joking, right? That's forbidden in Islam.' He put a gun to my head and a knife to my throat. He told me that if I tell anyone about it, he will kill me." You have 23.21% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
