Former hostage Guy Gilboa Dalal said in a television interview Saturday that he suffered repeated sexual assaults and violent abuse while being held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.Speaking with Keshet News, Gilboa Dalal said the terrorists who guarded him and other captives were “very mentally unstable.”
“They could be fine for a period and then become extremely brutal,” he said.
He described one incident in which a guard brought him and fellow captives Omer Nakarat and another hostage a “meal” of cold, murky water and undercooked pasta. After they finished, the guard put a face mask on him and ordered him not to move, then told Nakarat to get on all fours and bark like a dog.
“He left, came back, grabbed me and threw me on Omer,” Gilboa Dalal said. “Then he beat us with punches and kicks.”
He said the same guard later took him into a separate room, tied his hands to a chair, covered his eyes and made explicit sexual threats.
“He said, ‘You haven’t seen girls for a long time, right? You watch porn? You want to watch porn? You want us to make a porn movie together?’” Gilboa Dalal said. “He came from behind me and started touching me all over my body. I froze.”
According to his account, the guard kissed his neck and back and told him he loved him. When Gilboa Dalal admitted he was afraid, the guard pressed a rifle to his head and a knife to his throat. He said the guard warned him not to tell any of the other hostages or guards, including Evyatar David, Tal Shehem and Nakarat.
“So I went through this terrible experience and couldn’t tell anyone,” he said. “I had to keep it inside.”
In another incident, Gilboa Dalal said the guard allowed him to shower, then dragged him out naked into a room used by the captors.
“He took off his pants and I told him, ‘You’re joking, right? This is forbidden in Islam. You’re a Muslim and this is forbidden,’” he said. He said the guard rubbed his genitals against him for several minutes while he stood frozen.
Gilboa Dalal said he feared the assaults would escalate and grow “more violent and more penetrating,” leaving him in constant panic because “there’s nowhere to run.” The assaults ended, he said, only because the guard was never again left alone without other terrorists present.
“But it was always in my mind, every time I saw him,” he said. “I just hoped it wouldn’t happen again.”