Ex-hostage recounts torture and sexual assault in Gaza before UN, demands release of captives

“Where I was born (Mexico), when cartels kill and torture, the world calls them what they are: terrorists. Why is Hamas not condemned in the same way?”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Ilana Gritzewsky, a former hostage and the partner of Matan Zangauker—who has been held in Gaza for 691 days—delivered an emotional address to the United Nations Security Council in New York on Wednesday, urging world powers to secure the release of those still held captive.

Gritzewsky described in painful detail how she was dragged from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7 attack, beaten, sexually assaulted, and forced into Gaza.

“They grabbed me by the hair, hit me in the stomach, dragged me across the floor and pointed guns at me,” she told ambassadors, holding up a photo of her partner. “I begged them not to hurt me, not to rape me, not to shoot me—just to let me go.”

She recounted losing consciousness while being abused and waking up injured with a broken jaw, fractured pelvis, burns and other wounds.

One of her captors mocked her, promising she would never be freed and would instead become his wife.

She spent 55 days being shuttled between tunnels, hospitals and apartments, often with little food or water.

“We spent more than 40 days with barely any food, almost no water, constant psychological terror,” she said, noting she lost 25 pounds.

At one point, she said she was held in Nasser Hospital, where Hamas controlled access. There she saw other hostages, including David Cunio and Eitan Horn, and learned that her partner, Matan, was also in captivity.

“I begged to see him. They said ‘later’—but later never came,” she recalled.

Gritzewsky, who immigrated to Israel alone at 16 from Mexico, accused the international community of hypocrisy.

“Where I was born, when cartels kill and torture, the world calls them what they are: terrorists. Why is Hamas not condemned in the same way?” she asked.

Calling for immediate action, she urged the council to demand the unconditional release of all hostages.

“Do not turn away. Do not allow political divisions to silence the victims,” she said. “Bring them home. Bring Matan home. Bring all of them home.”