Ex-hostage Amit Soussana receives US State Department’s International Woman of Courage Award

Accepting the US State Department’s 2025 International Woman of Courage Award, former Hamas hostage and sexual assault survivor Amit Soussana calls for global action to secure the immediate release of the remaining captives in Gaza.

“It is an incredible honor to stand before you today, but it is also a deeply painful moment,” says Soussana, who is one of eight women from around the world presented with the award at a State Department ceremony in Washington, but the only one given a personal shout-out by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the only one asked to give keynote remarks to those in attendance.

Soussana is presented with the award by Rubio and First Lady Melania Trump.

“While I am here, my friends remain in the darkness. Five hundred and forty-three long days and nights. They are still suffering, still waiting, still hoping. Their voices remain unheard. So I will speak for them. We cannot move forward until they are free,” Soussana says in her remarks.

Soussana was taken captive during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught and released as part of the first hostage release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in November 2023.

Since her release, she has advocated around the world on behalf of those still held in Gaza and became the first former hostage to speak about the sexual violence she endured while in captivity.

“In captivity, I had no control over my body, no control over my life. I resisted as best as I could, but it was not enough to stop what happened to me,” she says.

“The darkness was suffocating. Yet even in the darkness, there was one thing they could not have taken from me, the strength my mother instilled in me. The belief that we must always stand for what is right, no matter the cost.”

“I vowed that if I would survive, I would never be silent. I would speak — not just for myself, but for every woman who had been silenced,” Soussana says. “When I first told my story, I only wanted to raise awareness about the horrors of captivity and the terror of October 7, but my story became part of a much bigger conversation — one about sexual violence, about war and about the unimaginable strength of women in the face of brutality.”

“In Israel, we’re about to celebrate Passover — the story of liberation, of breaking free from bondage. But this will be the second Passover that the hostages remain in captivity,” she laments.

“I accept this award, not for myself, but in the name of all the brave women of Israel, the women who endure, who led, who refused to break. Women are stronger. We are the stronger gender, not because we do not feel pain, but because we rise from it, because we fight — not just for ourselves, but for those who cannot fight for themselves.”

“This award comes at a critical moment. The hostages cannot wait. Every single day that passes is another day of unimaginable suffering. With every passing moment, their pain deepens, their hope fades and their chances of survival diminish,” she says.

“I call on the world to act to bring them home now, not tomorrow, not next week. Now.”