Images captured by a security camera show Amit Soussana being dragged towards Gaza by a group of armed men, who repeatedly slam her to the ground, tie her with a piece of white fabric and put her on their shoulders. A 40-year-old lawyer, resident in the Kfar Azza kibbutz, Soussana is the first of the Hamas prisoners to speak publicly – in an interview with the New York Times – of his 55 days in the Strip. The US newspaper conducted separate interviews with the two doctors who examined her after her release last November and with the Tel Aviv medical school professor who has followed her and her family since then. Her testimony was also given to the United Nations team that wrote the report which concluded that there is “clear and convincing information” on the fact that some hostages were subjected to sexual violence.
The woman told the Nyt of being subjected to harassment for days, culminating in a sexual assault at gunpoint by her jailer in her first place of imprisonment: a child’s room in an apartment in Gaza City – «The doctors’ report – writes the newspaper – details the nature of the sexual act; The Times agreed not to make the specifications public.” On that occasion, Soussana was also repeatedly beaten, and later, when she was moved to another apartment, she was also subjected to torture – suspended between two sofas and beaten for 45 consecutive minutes. The Hamas spokesman denied any wrongdoing, suggesting that the story was a “fabrication of security officials”. “For us the human body, and especially that of women, is sacred.”
The discharge certificate issued by the hospital that visited Soussana after his release lists the injuries sustained during the kidnapping and captivity: fractures to the right orbit, chin, nose and knee, severe bruising on his back and knees. Before being freed, in a video shot by Hamas she said she was treated well. Out of fear, she reported to the Nyt“to jeopardize his release.”
