Former hostage Romi Gonen, who returned to Israel during the second phase of the hostage deal 10 months ago after 471 days in Hamas captivity, told the “Uvda” (“Fact”) current affairs program on Channel 12 on Thursday night, in a harrowing interview, about what she experienced in captivity in Gaza.

‘On my fourth day in captivity I was sexually assaulted’

Gonen spoke candidly for the first time about the sexual assaults she endured during captivity: “I experienced various types of harassment from four different men during captivity, in four different levels of severity. After I arrived at the apartment from the hospital, I went into the shower and things happened.

“The first incident was with that doctor named Mohammad who came to check my condition and ‘came to help me in the shower’ because I was wounded. He took everything from me. I felt this was it. Only four days had passed and I have to continue living with him in the house. There is no way to know how this situation would have developed.”

Gonen added: “After the incident in the shower, another terrorist came to the apartment, and filmed the first video of me in Gaza.”

She recounts in a choked voice: “Mohammad the cameraman was annoying, he was always close to me and I felt that something bad was going to happen. I am left alone with Mohammad the cameraman, I understand that he and I are going to sleep alone that night, I feel him getting close to me and he starts giving me a back massage.

“He is giving me the massage and he started going down to my waist. I told him: ‘Stop touching me’ and I move his hand away and he continues touching my waist. I got angry and yelled at him and went to the children’s room to sleep there. I wake up in the morning and he wakes up and he tells me: ‘Yesterday evening was a one-time thing. From today we sleep together, bed next to bed. I go with you to the bathroom. Every night I will handcuff you.’

‘I took a pregnancy test’

“And so the days pass. Mohammad comes into the bathroom with me and looks at me. He constantly comes into the bathroom with me; they give me massages on my leg and continue on my whole body. This lasted 16 days. And they were the worst of my captivity.”

Fearing she had become pregnant after she did not get her period, she recounted: “I lied to them [the terrorists] that I have a husband. I did not get my period; this scared all of us. My biggest fear was that they did something to me, and they were sure that I slept with my ‘husband’ that I invented the day before the [Supernova] party and that I am pregnant. One day they brought a pregnancy test, which came back negative.”

Gonen recounted the third harassment she experienced: “I went to the bathroom and he came after and there was the third harassment, it lasted half an hour and was the most severe. Until you are in this situation, you cannot understand what happens to the body. Fear paralyzes, and I was paralyzed. Nothing went through my mind in those seconds except that I am afraid and that I am disgusted.

“There was one moment in the bathroom while everything is happening and I am crying. I remember a moment when I look through the small window that was there, and the sky is blue, the birds are chirping—and this is the situation I am in right now. Dissonance between tranquility and birds chirping outside, and brutality and disgust at what is happening in the bathroom. I reached, for the third time, the worst situation there is.”

‘Gaya took her last breath’

Gonen described the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, at the Supernova festival, where she had gone with her friend Gaya: “The light starts to come up, and I am filming videos, and Gaya is in the background. There was a beautiful sunrise that morning. I lift my head to the sky and I tell her: ‘What is this, did they get us fireworks for the party?’” referring to the rockets fired from Gaza.

“Suddenly we started hearing people shouting ‘Terrorists!’ We got out of the car and started running. We entered a wadi to hide in a bush. I was wearing pink pants that would make me visible no matter how well I hid. Suddenly Ben Shimoni arrives, a friend of Gaya from work. Ben drove [back and forth] three times, I am the 13th person he saved. When he picked us up, this was the third time he returned to Nova.

“We are heading toward home and we see 50 terrorists closing us off; they are waiting for us on the road. This is fear that there is no way to explain. In an instant, the vehicle was riddled with bullets. The windows shattered. I lift my head and see Ben not alive. Gaya screams, ‘Romi, they shot me.’ I sent my hand to check her pulse and exactly then a bullet hit me in that hand. We manage to exchange a good look in the eyes, and she took her last breath.”

‘They dragged me like a bag of garbage’

“They lift me out of the vehicle and put me on the road. I was afraid they would touch me and I was afraid they would rape me. A terrorist comes and he drags me like a bag of garbage on the road. They grab me from the loops of my pants and throw me into their vehicle. We start driving. The terrorist punched me and we are driving with me all covered in blood.

“The first stop in Gaza was Shifa Hospital; they brought me into a room, at the entrance stood two people with Kalashnikovs. I am lying on a bed, one guy takes off my shoes another takes off my clothes, earrings and jewelry. I am lying there and 15 people are touching me. They cut off my clothes and I am lying there naked.

“A few days after I arrived in Gaza, I was lying there on the sofa in the living room, there was a radio on, and I heard, ‘Where is Romi?’ I identified my mother‘s voice, I jumped from the sofa, I couldn’t stop shaking,” she recounted.

Meirav Leshem-Gonen (right) embraces her daughter, released hostage Romi Gonen, after 471 days of Hamas captivity. Credit: IDF.

Following Gonen’s interview, Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X: “Romi Gonen’s testimony is heartbreaking. In a trembling voice, yet with extraordinary courage, Romi revealed the hell she endured in Hamas captivity—sexual violence and systematic attempts to crush the human spirit. Her story must be told everywhere, so that all will remember what we endured as a people, what the hostages endured, and what Romi endured.

“Romi, you are a true hero. We salute your courage,” he added.

Originally published by Israel Hayom.