In a chilling series of testimonies, disturbing details are emerging about hostages who suffered sexual assaults in Gaza. Among the stories are accounts of a male victim being forced into doll’s clothing and a young girl coerced into a sexual act by her Hamas captor in a shower.

Since October 7, I have been on the ground covering this conflict for the Daily Mail. Throughout this period, hostages have been at the mercy of their captors in Gaza, with some kept in isolation within dark tunnels.

Just when it appeared that the full extent of Hamas’s brutality had been revealed, new testimonies have surfaced, uncovering even more horrific acts.

Two years ago, terrorists breached the Israeli border, forcibly removing peaceful kibbutz residents from their homes and attacking attendees at the Nova music festival. It was then that reports of sexual violence and torture began to surface.

These harrowing accounts were submitted to the United Nations, which has documented several instances of abuse.

In conversations with survivors of the Nova festival, many shared that while they hid in bushes or feigned death, they could hear women being subjected to sexual violence.

One account submitted by the Association of Rape Crisis Centres in Israel described a woman being gang-raped, her breasts cut off with a box cutter as the terrorists took turns with her.

‘They threw her breast on the floor’, said a witness, who added that afterwards they played with it ‘like a toy’. 

Natalia Lisbona (pictured, in Gaza) has covered this conflict for the Daily Mail from the very first day, on the ground since October 7

Rom Braslavski, 21, was taken from the Nova music festival on October 7 while working as a security guard

At the same festival, one young man bravely told me he was gang-raped by several terrorists.

I was among a small group of journalists shown censored footage and photographs from the aftermath of the massacre at Israel’s intelligence headquarters. 

The images were ghastly – women had objects violently inserted into their groin area, it was impossible to tell what they were. A bullet? A nail? But the photos made me retch. 

Among the pictures was the image of a woman in what was left of a black dress — her lifeless body twisted, her dignity stripped away, as she was exposed fully, a huge gash on her thigh. It is an image I will never forget.

Many of the women brutalised that day will never be able to testify — because they did not survive. 

Two years later, Israel’s wounds are still raw, open and, at times, festering.

On Wednesday, Aviva Siegal 62, who was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct 7 along with her husband, Keith 65, from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, spoke before the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) in Geneva.

She recounted acts of sexual assault committed by Hamas, including a 16-year-old female hostage: ‘I am witness to one of the girls who was with us, that the Hamas terrorist came to the bathroom, told her to get undressed, came into the shower with her, and forced her to do oral sex. And she had to smile after she did that too.

Pictured: An armed Palestinian militant leading a man away during the Supernova music festival

Aviva Siegal, seen here with her daughter Elan, also said the male hostages were also victims 

‘I am a witness of one of the girls who was forced to take a shower. She is 16 years old, she’s never ever shown anybody her body, the Hamas terrorist just stood there and stared and smiled.

‘One of the days, one of the girls went to the bathroom, and when she came back, she was shaking. She’s young… and after a while she told us a Hamas terrorist touched her whole body and did whatever he wanted. She was so scared because he said to her that if she said anything about it, he would kill her.’

Back in January 2024, Siegal testified that some of the female hostages were dressed up for their captor’s depraved enjoyment. 

‘The terrorists bring inappropriate clothes, clothes for dolls and turn the girls into their dolls. Dolls on a string with which you can do whatever you want, whenever you want.’

Siegal, who was released in the first ceasefire deal after 51 days while her husband remained captive for 484 days, also said the male hostages were also victims.

‘And it must be said that the boys also go through what the girls go through. They don’t get pregnant, but they are also a puppet on a string’, she told Israel’s parliament.

Keith testified at the same hearing on Wednesday that he was forced to undress in front of his captives as they shaved his body: ‘Our captives compared my body parts to those of another hostage, threatened us with knives, leaving us to beg to go to the bathroom.’

Dr Itai Pessach, who treated one-quarter of all hostages on their return at Sheba medical centre in Tel Aviv, would not discuss specific cases for fear of inadvertently identifying victims, but he emphasised the scale of sexual violence.

Amit Soussana was kicked and punched by Hamas gunmen as they abducted her on October 7

Amit Soussana revealed that she was sexually assaulted by a guard while she was held captive in Gaza by Hamas. She was kidnapped from her home in Kfar Aza, Israel during the October 7 raid. Ms Soussana is pictured outside the ruins of her home 

‘Almost fifty percent of them had endured significant sexual assaults,’ he said.

‘And how do you define it? Being watched naked while bathing and forced to dress in front of a few men ? To me, that also counts as assault. Therefore, the figure could be far higher’, he told the Daily Mail.

Last week, the Daily Mail broke the world exclusive that Rom Braslavsky, 21, described sexual violence during his two years in captivity, where he was tortured, stripped naked and abused. 

‘It is sexual violence, and its main purpose was to humiliate me. The goal was to crush my dignity and that’s exactly what he did,’ Braslavsky told Channel 13’s Hazinor programme. ‘It’s hard for me to talk about that part, specifically. I don’t like to talk about it.’

It was the first time a male hostage had publicly gone on record. He also described other methods of torture such as stones forced in his ear and daily beatings while his captors were laughing.

Amit Sousanna, 40 was the first former hostage to speak publicly. She told how she was dragged from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza by ten men and then subjected to sexual acts at gunpoint in captivity.

Ilana Gritzewsky, 30, who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, recounted that she lost consciousness during the kidnapping after being sexually assaulted. 

When she came to in Gaza, she found herself half-naked and surrounded by seven men, who were frustrated when they realised she was on her period.

Fifteen-year-old Dafna Elkayim testified in May that her captor threatened to join her in the shower, said he would marry her and touched her inappropriately. 

She was abducted alongside her eight-year-old sister, Ela, after their father and stepmother were murdered.

Noa Beer was driving away from the Nova festival site when she and the group she was with came up against a Hamas roadblock

One of the passengers is seen with blood streaming down his face in the chilling footage

Ilana Gritzewsky (pictured), who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, recounted that she lost consciousness during the kidnapping after being sexually assaulted 

Released hostage Ilana Gritzewsky poses for a portrait in her apartment in Kiryat Gat, Israel, on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, near photos of her boyfriend, Matan Zangauker, who was held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip

Dafna Elyakim (pictured, right) and Ela Elyakim (pictured, left) were reunited with their mother Maayan Zin (pictured, centre)

A report submitted by Israel’s Ministry of Health last year said Hamas captors forced two minors to perform sexual acts on one another, compelled them to undress in front of them, touched their private parts, and whipped their genitalia. 

The same two former hostages reported being bound and beaten throughout their captivity, with scars and marks consistent with trauma.

Experts warn there are likely many more cases of sexual assault and rape among the released hostages that remain unreported, as survivors often stay silent due to shame and stigma. 

Specialists in trauma care stress that victims need time, safety and psychological support before they can begin to speak about what happened to them — if they ever choose to at all.

‘There is also the fact that many of the hostages endured such horrific experiences, that they would have blocked a lot of it out.’ Says Dr Pessach.

After everything these men and women have endured over the past two years, there’s at least some consolation in knowing that – should they choose – it’s possible for them to talk about it, receive real help and begin to rebuild. 

But my thoughts keep returning to the Palestinians who have spent the last 19 years living under Hamas’s rule of terror and all the stories of abuse they will never be able to share.