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(JNS) The United Nations is “morally obliged” to help secure the release of the 100 hostages being held by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday.
“Torture. Physical and psychological torture. Starvation. Sexual abuse. Beatings. Branding. Just some of the horrific words that jump off the pages of the Ministry of Health’s submission to the U.N. on the horrific ordeal endured by the hostages at the hands of Hamas terrorist murderers and rapists in Gaza,” said Herzog.
The Israeli Health Ministry will submit a report this week detailing the “torture and atrocities experienced by Israeli hostages since Oct. 7, [2023],” including “abhorrent instances of sexual violence,” to Alice Jill Edwards, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Israeli mission to the world body told JNS on Saturday.
The report will include “many testimonies of the hostages who returned from Hamas captivity” and “descriptions of the horrors Hamas terrorists inflicted on the hostages, including sexual abuse, starvation, neglect and humiliation,” the Israeli delegation said.
“These are the testimonies of those who have been released and rescued. But still, for 450 days 100 innocent men, women and children, babies and the elderly, have been held hostage in Gaza. With the winter upon us, their lives are in imminent danger,” said Herzog.
“The U.N. has the facts. It is morally obliged to do everything in its power to bring the hostages home now,” he added.
The report has two parts, the Israeli Health Ministry said.
“The first section details the neglect, abuse, torture and humiliation suffered by the hostages who were released or rescued from captivity in Gaza, as well as the impact of these experiences on their physical and physical and mental condition,” the ministry said.
“The second section of the report discusses rehabilitation models that have been deemed appropriate for the returnees, drawing on data collected from primary care nurses, physicians and mental health professionals who have been providing ongoing care, including through specialized clinics for returnees,” it added.
Uriel Buso, the Israeli health minister, said that the report “is a harrowing testimony to the brutal experiences suffered by the hostages in Hamas captivity—cruel violence, psychological abuse, physical torment and acts that defy comprehension.”
