Palestinian militants | File Image
Braslavski: It is sexual violence and its main purpose was to humiliate me
By Valentine Amanze
I was subjected to “horrific” and humiliating sexual assault while held captive in Gaza.
This was the lamentation of an Israeli, Rom Braslavski, who was freed from the captivity of the Palestinian Islamic jihadists, recently.
Braslavski, who was working as a security guard when he was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, narrated his plight in an interview with Channel 13’s “Hazinor” .
He said that he was stripped and tied up while he was held by the Palestinian Islamic jihadists.
He is the first male hostage to publicly allege that he was sexually assaulted while in captivity.
His words: “They stripped me of all my clothes, my underwear, everything.
“They tied me up from the …”
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Braslavski, 21, continued: “When I was completely naked. I was wiped out, dying without food. And I prayed to God – save me, get me out of this already, and you just say to yourself like … what the hell is going on?”
Braslavski said that it was “unequivocally” sexual assault.
“It is sexual violence and its main purpose was to humiliate me. The goal was to crush my dignity and that’s exactly what he did,” Braslavski said in the interview, which was filmed last week and shared with CNN.
“It’s hard for me to talk about that part, specifically. I don’t like to talk about it.”
Braslavski was among the final 20 living hostages released last month after more than two years in captivity as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
He was held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group in Gaza allied with Hamas which also held Israeli hostages during the war.
The militants released footage of an emaciated Braslavski earlier this year, with his father saying he did not recognize his son.
His mother told Israeli media he was allegedly pressured to convert to Islam in exchange for food.
“It’s hard. It was a horrific thing,” Braslavski said of his alleged sexual assault.
“You just pray to God for it to stop. And while I was there – every day, every beating – I’d say to myself, ‘I survived another day in hell.’”
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll wake up to another hell. And another hell. And another hell,” he said. “It doesn’t end.”
Other Israeli hostages alleged they were sexually assaulted or abused while in Hamas captivity, an allegation Hamas officials repeatedly denied. But until now, it had been only female hostages coming forward.
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