Hostages in Gaza faced torture, including sexual and psychological abuse, starvation, burning and medical neglect, according to a new report from the Israeli Health Ministry to be submitted to the United Nations this week.
The report is based on interviews with medical and welfare teams who treated more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages, most of whom were released in a brief truce between Israel and Hamas in late November 2023. Israeli forces rescued eight hostages.
According to the report, addressed to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and published late Saturday, the hostages included more than 30 children and teenagers, some of whom were tied up, beaten or branded with hot objects.
The women complained of sexual assault at gunpoint by the kidnappers. Reports say the men were beaten, starved, branded, kept in isolation, and denied access to bathrooms. Some were denied treatment due to injuries and medical conditions.
None of the hostages are identified by name or age in the report to protect their privacy, but some details match those provided by hostages and staff who spoke to Reuters and other media and a UN report. He was treated in an interview with the report.
Hamas has repeatedly denied mistreating the 251 hostages kidnapped from Israel during the October 7, 2023 attack. Israeli officials believe about half of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are still alive.
New efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire, including a hostage deal, have gained momentum in recent weeks, although there has been no breakthrough so far.
According to Israeli officials, the war began with an October 2023 attack by Hamas, which killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
According to Palestinian health officials, Israel’s subsequent campaign against Hamas killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, displaced almost the entire population of Gaza and reduced much of its territory to rubble.
Israeli authorities are investigating allegations of abuse against Palestinian detainees captured during the war.
