President Issac Herzog pays tribute to the “extraordinary courage” of Romi Gonen after the former Israeli hostage detailed the sexual assault she suffered at the hands of her captors in an interview with Channel 12.
“Romi Gonen’s testimony is heartbreaking,” the president writes on X above a clip of the interview. “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.”
He adds, “Romi, you are a true hero. We salute your courage.”
Gonen was kidnapped from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. She was released during a ceasefire in January 2025.
In the interview, which aired on Thursday night, she described being sexually assaulted multiple times by her captors.
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