Content material caution: This newsletter discusses delicate subjects comparable to sexual attack.
Former Gaza hostage Man Gilboa-Dalal shared his reports of sexual abuse right through his time in Hamas captivity with First Woman Michal Herzog in a candid interview on Thursday.
The interview was once held an afternoon prior to the World Day for the Removal of Sexual Violence in War.
Herzog discussed her outrage over Israel being integrated within the UN’s blacklist of nations and organizations that use sexual violence in warfare.
UN fails to ensure allegations
“What really outraged me,” she stated, “was that the description of the situation in Israel began by noting that the Israeli hostages who returned from captivity in Gaza made allegations of sexual abuse they had experienced, and that the UN could not verify those allegations.”
“This is why we’re here,” she informed Gilboa-Dalal. “So that you can say what you went through.”
Screenshot from a Hamas video of Man Gilboa-Dalal within the tunnels underneath Gaza. (credit score: Courtesy)
Gilboa-Dalal recounted a second by which one in every of his captors lined his eyes and informed him to take his garments off.
“He started touching my entire body. I froze. I couldn’t do anything. He held a knife to my throat and said, ‘Don’t tell anyone about this,” Gilboa-Dalal said.
The former hostage also spoke of a similar but separate incident.
“The second time he came into our room,” he recalled. “He told me to turn toward the wall. He covered my eyes and said, ‘Now stay like this, don’t move.’”
He said that the Hamas terrorists threw him and fellow hostage Omer Wenkert and started beating, punching, and kicking them.
“We were crying and begging him to stop,” he said.
“After he completed, he took me to the bathe. He grabbed me via the hand, threw me onto the sofa, stood at the back of me, and started rubbing his genitalia in opposition to me. In moments like that, my thoughts merely disconnected. Each and every 2nd felt like a life-time. I did not know what to do. I simply sought after it to be over. I could not do anything else, even though I sought after to. I used to be so vulnerable.”
Gilboa-Dalal is one of the few male hostages to recount instances of sexual assault during captivity. Among others with similar experiences are released hostages Rom Braslavski and Keith Siegel.
Siegel and his wife Aviva testified before the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) in Geneva in late 2025. Siegel, at the time, had urged the committee to listen to the facts presented by the Israeli delegation and remain free from political bias.
When asked what prompted him to speak openly and reveal the severe abuse he endured, Gilboa-Dalal replied that he feels that he has a mission to use his voice to strengthen and empower survivors of sexual assault.
‘I want them to know they are not alone’
“I know that many people who experience sexual assault choose not to speak about it with others, and I want them to know they are not alone. It is never the victim’s fault.”
“I want to use my voice to spread the truth about what happened in Gaza,” he informed Herzog.
The first lady commended Gilboa-Dala for sharing his experiences. “Those are tricky and harrowing reports for a teenager, particularly in a spot and state of affairs the place you are feeling utterly helpless,” she stated.
“It takes super braveness to percentage them, and I consider it’s our responsibility to carry our painful and surprising reality prior to the sector. I thanks in your willingness and braveness to take action.”
Watch the entire dialog right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XD8l8oZ4nM
