Aviva Sigal, who was held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for 51 days, gave one of the most moving testimonies ever heard about her captivity to the Knesset Parliamentary Committee on Prisoners on Tuesday. She said that one day a young hostage came back from the toilet distraught. According to Aviva Sigal, a terrorist who was monitoring several young women had just sexually assaulted them. “I would like to talk to you about some moments that were very difficult for me. There were a million moments like that and I could talk to you for a week,” she added.
“This woman came back after going to the toilet just to pee and I saw on her face that she was unwell. So I got up and kissed her, and (the terrorist) came in and told him I loved him, but we were forbidden from kissing. Aviva Sigal said that's when she realized, “I see that she's shutting up and shutting up and not being herself anymore.” And excuse me, I'm going to say ugly words, but that son of a bitch touched her. And he didn't do it.” I was even allowed to hold her after it happened. It's just terrible. I told him, “I’m sorry.”
The former hostage also said that another young hostage was tortured because the terrorists mistook her for an Israeli army officer. “They tortured her in front of me. I witnessed that. What is happening there is a catastrophe. We can't go on (…) They have to give us hope because we let ourselves get lost. They are not civilized people, they are not human beings,” she told the commission members.
Aviva Sigal, 62, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza along with her husband Keith, 64, who is still imprisoned by Hamas. Her poignant statement follows that of 17-year-old Agam Goldstein-Almog during the recent rally in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square. The teenager said that “many girls have suffered severe sexual abuse, they are seriously injured and their complex injuries are not being treated.”