Author: Maayan Lubell
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hostages held in Gaza were subjected to torture, including sexual and psychological abuse, starvation, burns and medical neglect, according to a new report by Israel’s health ministry to be delivered to the United Nations this week.
The report is based on interviews with medical and social teams who treated more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages, most of whom were released in late November 2023, in a brief truce between Israel and Hamas. Eight hostages were rescued by the Israeli army.
The hostages include more than 30 children and teenagers, several of whom were tied up, beaten or branded with a red-hot object, according to a report to the UN special rapporteur on torture released late Saturday.
Women have reported sexual abuse by their captors, including assaults with weapons. The men were beaten, starved, branded, tied up in isolation and denied access to the bathroom, the report said. Some were denied treatment due to injuries and health problems.
The report did not identify any of the hostages by name or age, to protect their privacy, but some of the descriptions match those given by the hostages and the staff who treated them in interviews with Reuters and other media and the UN report.
Hamas has repeatedly denied abusing the 251 hostages abducted from Israel during the attack on October 7, 2023. Israeli authorities believe that about half of the 100 hostages still being held in Gaza are still alive.
A new effort to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, including a hostage deal, has gained momentum in recent weeks, although no progress has yet been reported.
The war began with a Hamas attack in October 2023, in which, according to Israeli authorities, 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Israel’s ensuing campaign against Hamas has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to Palestinian health officials, displaced nearly all of Gaza’s population and reduced much of its territory to rubble.
Israeli authorities are investigating allegations of ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees arrested during the war.
