‘They turned girls into their dolls’: Released Gaza hostage testifies in Knesset
Aviva Siegel tells lawmakers: 'At this very moment, there is somebody sitting in a cave being raped'
Israeli women still held hostage in Gaza are being raped by terrorists, a former hostage told lawmakers in a Knesset hearing on Tuesday.
Aviva Siegel, who was abducted from Kfar Azza with her husband Keith on 7 October, was among the 110 hostages released from Gaza in November during the first ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“The terrorists bring inappropriate clothes for the girls, the clothes of dolls,” Siegel said. “They turned the girls into their dolls, that they can do whatever they want with. And it’s unbelievable that they’re still there.” .
Siegel also said that the men held hostage in Gaza “go through these things too. They can’t get pregnant, but they also go through it. And something must change now. I would like to go back to captivity to protect the girls there, like I did when I was there. I felt like they were my daughters.
“We’ll soon reach four months [since they were kidnapped]. We were there for 51 days and there wasn’t a minute that we didn’t experience abuse – and they are still there,” she added.
"At this very moment, someone is being raped in a Gaza tunnel…If it were your daughters, your young boys, what would you do?"
Released hostage Aviva Siegel, 64, and her daughter Shir say that both women and men are being raped in Hamas captivity.
“The terrorists bring… pic.twitter.com/bDjYt2XcdC
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) January 23, 2024
Attacking the lack of action and outrage across the world, Siegel said: “My heart is there and it’s exploding. I can’t understand how the world is silent.”
Shir, Siegel’s daughter, also spoke at the hearing, raging against lawmakers who did not attend.
“Where is the cabinet, that they may hear these stories? Where are the decision makers? Where are they to listen, to shed a tear – what are they busy with?” she said.
“The girls are being raped there and nobody reports on it. We no longer have the option of sitting here and continuing to talk politely. At this very moment, there is somebody sitting in a cave being raped … Enough talking, if it was your daughters, your young sons … How much is it possible to suffer?” Shir added.
Systemic rape by Hamas and other terrorists on 7 October has been widely reported with numerous eyewitnesses telling their stories as well as first responders testifying to seeing clear evidence of sexual assaults on both men and women.
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