Mick Hartley

From the Jerusalem Post:

Hostages who returned from Hamas captivity in Gaza suffered from a myriad of medical and psychological conditions as a result of their imprisonment, with many enduring starvation, sexual abuse, beatings, and more, a Saturday Health Ministry report revealed….

According to the report, women, men, and children who returned from captivity were subjected to a variety of abuses, including beatings, isolation, deprivation of food and water, branding, hair-pulling, and sexual assault.

Many hostages were subjected to torture by withholding medical attention, and at least one hostage is believed to have died from untreated medical complications….

Two children reported that they were bound together and beaten throughout their captivity, and two additional children were found with burn marks consistent with branding on their lower limbs.

Two teenage hostages described how they were made to perform sexual acts on each other.

Many hostages of all ages and genders described undergoing sexual abuse at the hands of their captors, including a woman who was assaulted at gunpoint by a Hamas terrorist.

“The shocking testimonies from released hostages paint a grim reality: physical abuse, psychological torment, and dehumanizing conditions were inflicted on innocent people, some as young as children and as old as grandparents, for more than 50 excruciating days,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters said in a statement following the release of the report.

“To the world, its leaders, and humanitarian organizations: How can you watch this torture continue? How can you remain silent? The truth cannot be denied – every hostage faces mortal danger each day they remain in captivity," it added.

"This critical report underscores the urgent need to release all hostages as swiftly as possible,” Moshe Bar-Siman-Tov, Director General of the Health Ministry, said.

The report will be submitted to the United Nations this week. Where, I imagine, it will be ignored.