Ex-hostage says terrorists sexually assaulted her during her abduction, she woke up half-naked in Gaza

Former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky tells The New York Times that she was sexually assaulted during her abduction to Gaza by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023, and that her first memory from the Strip was waking up half-naked, surrounded by gunmen.

Gritzewsky recounts how she and her boyfriend Matan Zangauker — who is still held hostage — jumped out the window of the safe room of their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz after Palestinian terrorists shot at their door that morning, and ran in separate directions. She says gunmen seized her and put her between two men on a motorcycle while her head and face were covered.

One of the terrorists groped her from behind, touching her breast under her shirt as well as her leg. Her leg was pressed onto the exhaust pipe, causing burns, and she lost consciousness before they crossed into Gaza.

When she woke up, she was on the floor with seven gunmen standing over her, her shirt pulled up to bare her breasts and her pants pulled down, Gritzewsky says, adding that she doesn’t know what they did to her until that point. She then told them she had her period, which she believes likely saved her from worse.

“They hit me and lifted me up. I felt they were disappointed. I don’t think I have ever been so thankful for my period,” she says.

NYT reports that Gritzewsky said that “one of her captors hugged her and told her, while pointing his pistol at her, that even if there was a deal, she would not be released because he wanted to marry her and have her children.”

She adds that her captors stole jewelry from her, and that after her release in a hostage deal on November 30, 2023, she found out she had a broken hip.

Her captors confirmed to her that Zangauker was also a hostage, but she didn’t see him during her captivity. She and Matan’s mother, Einav, have become central figures in anti-government protests seeking the return of the remaining hostages.

“I’m not really available for my own rehabilitation, not for the body and not least for the soul,” she says in the interview.

“I live with the question of why me and not them. I have no answer. But if I am out, it’s a sign that God wanted me to raise my voice to help those who are alive gain their freedom and bring back the dead for a proper burial.”