Released captive Chen Goldstein Almog says he hopes female hostages ‘won’t get pregnant from rape.’
By Shula Rosen
October 7th survivors testified before the Knesset on Tuesday, with freed hostages Chen Goldstein Almog and Aviva Siegal describing the atrocities they witnessed, particularly the prevalence of sexual assault.
Chen Goldstein Almog said that many of the female hostages had stopped getting their periods, perhaps in some cases due to the conditions of near starvation.
“There are girls in captivity who haven’t had their periods in a long time, and maybe we should pray for that, that their bodies will protect them and they won’t get pregnant from rape.”
She continued, “We have to do everything to get them back.”
Aviva Siegal, who’s husband Keith is still in captivity in Gaza, spoke of the repeated sexual assault on hostages, both male and female.
She said, “The terrorists bring inappropriate clothes, clothes for dolls and turn the girls into their dolls.”
Aviva Siegal added, “Dolls on a string with which you can do whatever you want, whenever you want.”
She mentioned that sexual abuse also happened to male hostages, “The boys also go through abuse — what the girls go through.”
“Maybe they don’t get pregnant [but] they are also puppets on a string,” she said.
During an earlier testimony, Aviva Siegal described one incident of a female hostage returning after being allowed to go to the bathroom and looked disturbed when a terrorist prevented Aviva from embracing her.
“I saw that she was withdrawn, quiet and not herself,” Siegel said. “And excuse my language, but this son of a bitch had touched her. And he didn’t even let me hug her after it happened. It’s terrible, simply terrible. I told her I was sorry.”
Aviva Siegal stressed the difficult conditions in addition to the sexual abuse, including limited food and unhygienic conditions.
“It is unbelievable that they are still there. I can’t breathe, I can’t handle it and it’s too hard. We’ll soon close four months and they’re still there,” she said.
Aviva’s daughter Shir confronted the cabinet and said, “My mother’s stories are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Shir continued that the hostages “are sitting in captivity, they have not done anything wrong! We have no right to just sit here, we need to scream for them.”
She added, “Right now there is someone being raped in a tunnel.”
“Where are the really important people? The decision makers who sit in the cabinet and aren’t hearing this?” she asked.