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In First, Israeli Hostage Speaks Out Publicly About Sexual Assault by Hamas Captors
Released hostage Amit Soussana, kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, talks to the press in front of her destroyed home at the Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Israel, Jan. 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
An Israeli lawyer who was held captive by Hamas terrorists for 55 days after being abducted from her kibbutz on Oct. 7 has given a chilling account of the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her captors.
In a harrowing account that was part of an investigation published in The New York Times on Tuesday, 40-year-old Amit Soussana from Kfar Aza described how a Hamas captor identified as Muhammad forced her to perform a “sexual act on him” at gunpoint among other incidents of sexual assault, all in a child’s bedroom.
Soussana is the first released hostage to detail allegations of sexual violence during Hamas captivity.
Days after her abduction on Oct. 7, Muhammad began asking her about her sex life and details about her period.
“He sat me on the edge of the bath. And I closed my legs. And I resisted. And he kept punching me and put his gun in my face,” Soussana is cited as saying by The Times. “Then he dragged me to the bedroom.”
The article went on to say that Muhammad then forced her to commit a sexual act on him. “After the assault, Muhammad left the room to wash, leaving Ms. Soussana sitting naked in the dark, she said,” the article reads.
Soussana, who was one of more than 100 hostages released in November as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas, said she was held in at least six locations during her captivity, including private homes, an office, and an underground tunnel. She said she was subjected to both physical beatings and psychological torment.
A video of Soussana’s abduction went viral in the days following Oct 7. In it, at least 10 men are seen repeatedly tackling her to the ground in attempts to restrain her. At one point, she flailed so violently when slung over a kidnapper’s back that he collapsed to the ground. The video depicts the attackers trying to subdue her through beatings and wrapping her in fabric, unsuccessfully attempting to transport her by bicycle, before finally binding her hands and feet to drag her across bumpy farmland into Gaza, as she refused to be taken “like an object,” she told The Times.
Soussana’s allegations have fueled grave concerns over the fate of Israelis still being held by Hamas. A recent UN report warned that abductees were at continued risk of sexual violence by the terror group, and also said that there was “clear and convincing information” that some hostages had been subjected to “conflict-related sexual violence.”
The same UN report also found that Hamas likely committed widespread acts of gang-rape and torture against women on Oct. 7, when the Palestinian terrorist group invaded the Jewish state, murdered 1,200 people, and kidnapped 253 others as hostages.
Mounting evidence has documented Hamas’ systematic use of torture and sexual violence, including mass rape, against the Israeli people during the onslaught.
Soussana’s decision to speak out publicly about the sexual assault she endured was driven by a desire to raise awareness about the plight of the 134 hostages still being held in Gaza, The Times reported.
The post In First, Israeli Hostage Speaks Out Publicly About Sexual Assault by Hamas Captors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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