Rom Braslavski, who was released in October after over two years in captivity, is the first male hostage to claim to have been subjected to sexual violence after being abducted during the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
To Israeli television, he describes degrading, torture-like treatment intended to "humiliate" him.
They stripped me of all my clothes, my underwear, everything. They tied me up while I was completely naked. I was broken, dying, without food.
The goal was to crush my dignity. And that's exactly what they did.
Stones in the ears
Braslavski was on leave from his military service and working as a guard at the Nova music festival when Palestinian extremists attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. Four weeks ago, he was part of the last group of Israeli hostages to be released alive from the Gaza Strip.
According to Braslavski, who was held by Hamas-allied Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the situation worsened drastically in March – after the then ceasefire collapsed and the 21-year-old refused to convert to Islam.
For three weeks he was forced to wear blindfolds, had stones pressed into his ears and was given less and less food and drink, he says.
“Got into a loop”
Then his kidnappers reportedly received orders to torture him. Several times a day he was tied up, beaten and whipped with a cable. Then the sexual abuse began, Braslavski told Reshet 13.
"I went into a loop that I doubted I would get out of alive," he says.
At least four released female hostages have previously testified to sexual violence during their captivity in Gaza, Reuters reports. Islamic Jihad denies the allegations, according to the news agency.
