"On my fourth day in captivity I was sexually assaulted"

Gonen spoke for the first time candidly about the sexual assaults she endured during captivity: "I experienced various types of harassment from four different men during captivity, in four different levels of severity. After I arrived at the apartment from the hospital, I went into the shower and things happened.

"The first incident was with that doctor named Mohammad who came to check my condition and 'came to help me in the shower' because I was wounded. He took everything from me. I felt this was it. Only four days had passed and I have to continue living with him in the house. There is no way to know how this situation would have developed."

Gonen added: "After the incident in the shower another terrorist came to the apartment, and filmed the first video of me in Gaza."

She recounts in a choked voice: "Mohammad the cameraman was annoying, he was always close to me and I felt that something bad was going to happen. I am left alone with Mohammad the cameraman, I understand that he and I are going to sleep alone that night, I feel him getting close to me and he starts giving me a back massage.

"He is giving me the massage and he started going down to my waist. I told him 'stop touching me' and I move his hand away and he continues touching my waist. I got angry and yelled at him and went to the children's room to sleep there. I wake up in the morning and he wakes up and he tells me: 'Yesterday evening was a one-time thing. From today we sleep together, bed next to bed. I go with you to the bathroom. Every night I will handcuff you.'

"I took a pregnancy test"

"And so the days pass. Mohammad comes into the bathroom with me and looks at me. He constantly comes into the bathroom with me, they give me massages on my leg and continue on my whole body. This lasted 16 days. And they were the worst of my captivity."

About the anxiety fearing she had become pregnant after she did not get her period, she recounted: "I lied to them [the terrorists] that I have a husband. I did not get my period, this scared all of us. My biggest fear was that they did something to me, and they were sure that I slept with my 'husband' that I invented the day before the party and that I am pregnant. One day they brought a pregnancy test, which came back negative."

Gonen recounted the third harassment she experienced, which according to her was the most severe: "I went to the bathroom and he came after and there was the third harassment, it lasted half an hour and was the most severe. Until you are not in this situation you cannot understand what happens to the body. Fear paralyzes, and I was paralyzed. Nothing went through my mind in those seconds except that I am afraid and that I am disgusted.

"There was one moment in the bathroom while everything is happening and I am crying. I remember a moment when I look from the small window that was there, and the sky is blue, the birds are chirping – and this is the situation I am in right now. Dissonance between tranquility and birds chirping outside, and brutality and disgust at what is happening in the bathroom. I reached, for the third time, the worst situation there is."

"Gaya took her last breath"

Gonen recounted the morning of October 7 at the Nova Festival, where she had gone with her friend Gaya: "The light starts to come up, and I am filming videos, and Gaya is in the background. There was a beautiful sunrise that morning. I lift my head to the sky and I tell her: 'What is this, did they get us fireworks for the party?'" referring to the rockets launched from Gaza.

"Suddenly we started hearing people shouting 'terrorists.' We got out of the car and started running. We entered a wadi to hide in a bush. I was wearing pink pants that would make me visible no matter how well I hid. Suddenly Ben Shimoni arrives, a friend of Gaya's from work. Ben drove [back and forth] three times, I am the 13th person he saved. When he picked us up this was the third time he returned to Nova.

"We are heading toward home and we see 50 terrorists closing us off, they are waiting for us on the road. This is fear that there is no way to explain. In an instant, the vehicle was riddled with bullets. The windows shattered. I lift my head and see Ben not alive. Gaya screams 'Romi they shot me,' I sent my hand to check her pulse and exactly then a bullet hit me in that hand. We manage to exchange a good look in the eyes, and she took her last breath."

"They dragged me like a garbage bag"

"They lift me out of the vehicle, and put me on the road, I was afraid they would touch me and I was afraid they would rape me. A terrorist comes and he drags me like a garbage bag on the road. They grab me from the loops of my pants and throw me into their vehicle. We start driving. The terrorist punched me and we are driving with me all covered in blood.

"The first stop in Gaza was Shifa Hospital, they brought me into a room, at the entrance stood two people with Kalashnikovs. I am lying on a bed, one guy takes off my shoes another takes off my clothes, earrings and jewelry. I am lying there and 15 people are touching me. They cut my clothes and I am lying there naked.

"A few isolated days after I arrived in Gaza, I was lying there on the sofa in the living room, there was a radio on, and I heard 'Where is Romi?' I identified my mother's voice, I jumped from the sofa, I couldn't stop shaking," she recounted.

Following Gonen's testimony, Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X: Romi Gonen's testimony is heartbreaking. In a trembling voice, yet with extraordinary courage, Romi revealed the hell she endured in Hamas captivity – sexual violence and a systematic attempts to crush the human spirit. Her story must be told everywhere, so that all will remember what we endured as a people, what the hostages endured, and what Romi endured." He added, "Romi, you are a true hero. We salute your courage."

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The city mayor shared about Yosef, "How much insight, wisdom, and pure modesty you have, Yosef-Haim." At the ceremony, they planted an etrog tree after his father shared about the miracle of the Four Species (Arba'at HaMinim – lulav, etrog, hadass, and aravah) that allegedly brought his son home. "A few days before October 7, you blessed over the Four Species, and I told you that blessing would keep you alive. I didn't know about the festival and what would happen a few days later."

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Herkin is struggling to break the routines he was forced to adopt during his two horrific years in Gaza. He walks hunched over, a relic of moving through Gaza's low, narrow tunnels, and he clasps his hands behind his back as if they were still shackled.

"I got used to sitting and sleeping on the ground, and that has turned into a habit," he explained to Israel Hayom. "I might be with family or friends, get up to grab a cup of coffee, and then come back and simply sit down on the floor. My legs are always crossed and pulled tight to my body, because I sat scrunched up for two years. I only notice after many minutes and then return to a chair."

Maxim Herkin was freed in the recent hostage exchange on October 13, having endured 738 days in Hamas captivity. He now shares a harrowing personal experience and discloses that one of his captors boasted about having previously guarded Gilad Schalit, the Israeli soldier who was held captive for 4 years after being taken captive in 2006. 

"My eyes were covered, and my hands and legs were tied," he recounted softly. "I couldn't see anything, but I suddenly felt my clothes being pulled off. One of the terrorists took a knife and just cut them away until I was naked. The terrorist didn't ask me to strip; he did it himself."

"The reason became clear in an instant. He was sure I was a special forces soldier and asked if I had a GPS in my body. I was shocked. The terrorist must have seen too many spy movies and thought they had implanted a chip in me. I stayed calm and told him there was no chance he would find anything on me. After searching me and confirming there were no chips inside me, the terrorist pulled up my underwear himself. I stayed like that for several days – in my underwear, a sealed ski mask covered in blood, and my hands and feet in handcuffs."

In the article, which Israel Hayom will publish this weekend, Maxim Herkin returns to the trauma of October 7 and the physical and psychological abuse he suffered in Gaza. He openly discussed the panic attack he experienced when he heard a song played at the Nova Festival, from which he was abducted , his anxiety for his family, the crowdfunding campaign started by his friends, and the guilt he feels toward his 13 and a half-year-old little brother.

"I see the impact this period has had on him," he added. "He's a fighter, but now he's rebelling. He told me about his pain and that he had to be strong for our mother. This is a 13-year-old boy talking like a 40-year-old. I stole two years of his childhood, and no one can give them back to him."

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Video: Alon Ohel performing at Hostage Square on November 19, 2025 / Credit: Hostages and Missing Families Forum

Ohel, a gifted pianist who returned from captivity on October 13, wrote on an erasable board while on the helicopter to the hospital the words "Song Without a Name." This was the last song he played on the piano in his room before leaving for the Nova Festival, which was written and composed by Shalom Hanoch and originally performed by Yehudit Ravitz.

Prior to his release, medical authorities sounded the alarm that intelligence from released other hostages suggested Ohel might be losing his vision. According to information disclosed on Kan Reshet B, reports from freed captives indicate Ohel has sustained shrapnel injuries to his eye and can only detect shadows with one eye. Medical sources indicate that based on survivor testimonies, he risked losing vision in both eyes. After his return, and upon medical evaluation it was confirmed that his right-eye sight was severely compromised.

He underwent several complex procedures and doctors have been optimistic that his condition would allow his vision to be partially restored despite the circumstances, explaining that the surgery would have normally been done immediately after such an injury in order to be effective and that his conditions in captivity without proper food and sunlight may have hurt his medical parameters.

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The cancellations happened during the ADE music festival, one of the world's largest electronic music events, after a video from a "We Will Dance Again" party held at the venue earlier this year surfaced online. Following the controversy, club management announced that, for now, no more events "that could be interpreted as political" will be hosted at the venue.

The club owner said financial losses from the cancellations total approximately 100,000 euros ($106,000), adding that partygoers are the main victims. The owner said the published video "was edited in a biased manner and damaged the venue's reputation."

Event organizers for "We Will Dance Again" criticized the decision, calling it "surrender to threats." The organizers said, "A small group of people uses pressure and threats to dictate what's permitted and what's forbidden, and this is very disturbing." The organizers added that this represents a chilling recreation of patterns of Jewish exclusion from public spaces during dark periods in history. "First, they banned sitting on a bench, then they didn't allow entry to schools. These are things that happened to our parents and grandparents, and now we're seeing similar things happen again," the organizers said.

Belgian parliament member Sam van Rooy also addressed the incidents and warned, "If the cowardly policies continue, Amsterdam will eventually become Judenrein" – cleansed of Jews.

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Video: Eliya Cohen and Ziv Abud get engaged / Or Gefen

The pair, who have maintained a close relationship since before the kidnapping, endured one of the most challenging periods together and now celebrate the beginning of a new chapter.

The moving proposal occurred on the roof of the Stai Hotel in Tel Aviv with the couple's family and friends present, against the backdrop of the sea beaches. Cohen got down on one knee beside an enormous flower arrangement in pure white formed into a heart shape.

Cohen, who was freed from Hamas captivity approximately eight months ago, reveals in recent interviews that he already purchased the engagement ring for Ziv before the kidnapping. Since his release, he has turned a new page, starting to lecture worldwide, promoting a large music festival in Israel, and releasing a new book describing the captivity period and the moments forever carved into him.

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The terror organization claimed the video was filmed approximately a week ago. Guy addresses the public with a request: "Continue demonstrating a lot and strongly. Stop the madness. I'm begging you to stop this war already." Later, he addresses his friends who were with him in captivity: "Omer, Tal, do everything, speak for us. Cause problems for the government, create chaos. Go out to demonstrate and don't surrender to their extortion."

In the video, he also meets hostage Alon Ohel near a Red Cross headquarters, as claimed, and tells him: "I can't believe I'm seeing you," and Alon responds: "I can't believe it, this is simply insane."

Guy's family responded: "We received a sign of life from our Guy, after half a year from the previous video in which he was seen with Evyatar David, watching their friends being released. Guy, Alon, and more hostages were transferred to Gaza, and we are very concerned for their lives. We must bring them home."

Psychological terror

The story of the Dalal family is both a miracle and a tragedy, as the two brothers went to the Nova festival, but only one of them, brother Gal, escaped from the terrorists while Guy was kidnapped. Fifteen minutes before the attack began, Guy and then Gal (30) managed to send a selfie photo to their parents. They separated from each other, and when the attack began, each of them tried to escape.

Guy, whose nickname his mother gave him is Guy-go, is a fan of anime series. His dream and plan were to travel to Japan, and the ticket was already purchased. Last April, he was supposed to fly to Japan as part of his big trip, and even studied the language for this purpose.

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The tribute, held on Sunday in the heart of the weeklong arts and culture gathering in the Black Rock Desert, was attended by Omer Shem Tov, who survived months in Hamas captivity after being abducted from the Nova festival near Kibbutz Re'im on October 7.

 

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Ophir Meir, one of the founders of the Nova festival, who was wounded that day while his wife was nine months pregnant, addressed the crowd alongside Shem Tov.

"When we are united, we are unbreakable," Meir said. "My daughter is living proof that even in the darkest times, life and hope can prevail. I am proud to stand here with Omer Shem Tov, who returned from captivity. We pray for the safe return of the other hostages. You are the light that guides us, and I promise you we will dance again."

The remarks were met with loud cheers and support from the audience.

Burning Man, which attracts tens of thousands from around the world, blends art, music, creativity, and communal experiences. The festival traditionally begins in late August and concludes on Labor Day in the US, the first Monday in September.

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"When I used to meet Yael, I would call her 'my future sister-in-law,'" Tom, Jonathan's sister, recalls. "Once she whispered to me, 'Stop, you're pressuring Joni' – but who cared, I wanted him to get engaged. Today, all their friends are getting married, and it's really hard because it's clear to me that he would have proposed. He was already talking to my mom about a ring."

If there's a small piece of comfort in this tragedy, it lies in the connection that was formed after the death of the two. On October 7, Tom and her sister Danielle met Yellena, Yael's sister, for the first time. The three understood that fate had connected them – and since then they haven't separated. They even have a tradition they created for themselves – they fly together on vacation abroad immediately after Memorial Day, with the mothers of Yael and Joni.

"Between me and Yael, there was an 11-year age difference", Yellena recounts. "For many years, I was an only child, and suddenly I returned to that same point at an adult stage of my life. It was terribly difficult. Now I received Tom and Danielle as sisters, and their children as family."

Tom adds, "Yellena is like the aunt to the children. She watches over them, buys them gifts. I won't forget that during the shiva she came and asked, 'So now you're my sisters?' Even our WhatsApp group is called 'Sisters or Not to Be.'"

Jonathan from Hod Hasharon met Yael from Kfar Saba when they studied business administration and marketing at the Rupin Academic Center. Initially, they emphasized that they were friends only, and nothing more.

"Yael told me about Joni from school and said he works in a coffee shop", Yellena recalls. "One day, I sat in that coffee shop without saying who I was, and Joni was a total catch. Usually I'm critical of waiters, but he was fire."

Over time, the connection between the two grew warmer. Family meals, joint vacations, and finally moving together to a modest apartment in Florentin. "The way we met Yael, we said 'she's ours,'" Danielle remembers. "We always asked her and Joni when they would get married, because we knew it was heading in that direction."

"She didn't leave him wounded"

On October 7, Danielle and Tom were unaware that their brother and his girlfriend had attended the Nova Festival. Yellena also wasn't in on it, but as soon as the alarms began at 6:30 a.m. she texted Yael – "Awake?"

"Yael answered relatively quickly, 'We're at a party in the south, it's over,'" Yellena remembers. "She said there's chaos and they're packing up. I wrote 'Find a protected space' and asked her to send me a live location. The moment she sent it, I closed the phone and made myself coffee. I was convinced they were already managing. After fifteen minutes, I checked WhatsApp to see where they were and realized they were stuck. I texted Yael to drive to the parents of my friend, who live in the area. She wrote that there's chaos and stopped answering. My last message to her was 'Is Joni with you?'"

Only on Monday, two days after the massacre, the Rozman family was informed that Yael was murdered, and only toward the end of the week did the Ken-Dror family receive the terrible news that Jonathan also didn't survive.

Gradually, details began to emerge about what happened that black Saturday morning. A friend who was with the two in the car and managed to survive said that immediately after the first missiles were fired, they packed up from the festival and got in the car, with Jonathan sitting in the driver's seat. At the exit from Re'im parking lot, the turn north was blocked by police, so they drove south toward Gaza Division, and after four kilometers, they encountered terrorists.

"They passed by a Hamas squad, and according to the friend, Jonathan ran over one of them and continued driving", Danielle recounts. "The shooting didn't stop, and Jonathan caught a bullet that hit the main artery in his right arm. They were forced to stop by the roadside and get out. The friend left them when they were still alive."

The story details were completed only after Jonathan's personal belongings were returned to the family, including Yael's mobile phone, which was found beside him. It turned out that at 7:38 a.m. four calls were made from the device – two to the police, which weren't answered, and two more to Magen David Adom. The last call, between Yael and the dispatcher, lasted 5:40 minutes.

"Yael took care of Joni when he was wounded. She's our hero, she didn't leave him until the last minute," Tom says. "I would have preferred a different ending, and that at least she would come out alive, but when they left the car, he was in really bad condition. You also hear her telling Magen David Adom that he's losing a lot of blood and that his face is pale. She was focused, tried to explain where they were located, and said she couldn't leave him. I think she understood she was losing Jonathan, and at some point, the call became difficult. You hear in her voice that she understands the terrorists are closing in on them. In their lives and their deaths, they weren't separated."

Yellena didn't hear her sister's last phone call; it was too hard for her, but she read the transcript. "I couldn't contain this thing, but I know there's no way Yael would have left Joni, just as he wouldn't have left her", she's convinced. "Not even a slim chance of 0.001 percent."

Danielle nods, "When people tell me 'your brother was murdered', I always correct that I didn't lose just him, but also Yael. People think she's not from the family, but she is. We lost two."

Last breaths in the recording

Only a month after Joni and Yael's deaths, the sisters decided to enter their rented apartment and found notes the two had written to each other, fragments of lives that were cut short. "Yael and Joni were positive people full of joy of life, who left quite a mark on this world", Tom says. "Within the absence and crazy pain, there are two families that united movingly. We adopted each other as sisters, and our mothers are really good friends. We celebrate holidays together as a whole family. In the end, this is the gift they left. True, it hurts that we didn't meet at a bachelorette party or wedding, and that we had to meet under such circumstances, but there's an amazing connection here of cruel and shared fate."

The three know that at least for them, the circle is closed, unlike many who remained without answers about what happened to their loved ones that Saturday. "We have a narrative, but there are families who know nothing and received only a box," Danielle says. "With all the difficulty of hearing the recording and my brother's last breaths, at least our story is complete. That's why a national commission of inquiry must be established. Not just so people will be held accountable, but also so everyone the event touched will understand what happened, where we fell, and what there is to learn from all this."

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The investigation, conducted by Israeli gender and legal experts with partial funding from the British government, found that sexual violence was "widespread and systematic" during the attack that killed approximately 1,200 people. According to The Sunday Times, the report establishes that rape and gang rape occurred in at least six different locations, though most victims were "permanently silenced" – either murdered during the assaults or left too traumatized to speak.

The Sunday Times reported that the Dinah Project will be published Tuesday in Jerusalem, representing the most comprehensive documentation of sexual violence during the October 7 attack. The report draws from first-hand testimony of 15 returned Gaza hostages, a survivor of attempted rape at the Nova music festival, and interviews with 17 people who witnessed or heard the attacks, along with therapists treating traumatized survivors.

The project aims "to counter denial, misinformation and global silence" regarding what researchers describe as "one of the most under-reported dimensions of the attacks." The report states its mission "to set the historical record straight: Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war."

"Clear patterns emerged in how the sexual violence was perpetrated," the report documents, "including victims found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, often to trees or poles; evidence of gang rapes followed by execution; and genital mutilation."

The documented attacks occurred at the Nova music festival, Route 232, the Nahal Oz military base, and three kibbutzim: Re'im, Nir Oz and Kfar Aza. The report reveals that sexual abuse extended beyond the initial assault locations.

"Sexual violence continued in captivity, with many returnees reporting forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sexual assaults and threats of forced marriage," the investigation adds.

Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, director of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University, initiated the project to "ensure recognition and justice for victims and survivors." She collaborated with Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas, an international law expert and former chief military prosecutor of the Israeli army, and Nava Ben-Or, a retired judge and former deputy state attorney specializing in sexual abuse cases.

The research responds to criticism of inadequate responses from international organizations like UN Women following reports of sexual violence by The Sunday Times and other outlets. The project also addresses questions raised by false claims from first responders and arguments that Hamas, as an Islamic organization, would not commit rape – despite examples from Islamic State and Boko Haram.

Some critics argued that the sexual violence issue had been "weaponized" by the Israeli government to justify its actions in Gaza. This criticism particularly affected Halperin-Kaddari, who had worked for years on international cases of sexual violence, including Yazidis taken as sex slaves by Islamic State and girls abducted by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

"We feel let down by other women round the world," Halperin-Kaddari said. "If the standard is to believe survivors and witnesses, there is no excuse to keep quiet. Yet in this case a different standard was employed and the victims were lost in politicization. The fact so many kept silent or even denied what happened was devastating and a grave failure of international human rights."

The project takes its name from the first rape victim in the Bible and Torah – Dinah, Jacob's only daughter, who was raped by Shechem, son of a prince. After the assault, Dinah's brothers circumcised and killed the men of his tribe and abducted their women, but Dinah's voice was never heard. Halperin-Kaddari explained that the project aims "to be a voice for those who cannot or can no longer speak."

Previous fact-finding reports by the United Nations special representative for preventing sexual violence, a UN independent commission of inquiry, and the International Criminal Court all found indications of sexual violence and gang rape. However, the Dinah Project introduces new evidence including first-hand witness testimony from 15 returned hostages who experienced sexual violence in captivity.

Among the hostages, only one has spoken publicly: Amit Soussana, a lawyer held for 55 days. Two of the hostages were male, and one had all their body hair shaved, according to the report.

Zagagi-Pinhas explained that "sexual violence need not mean rape — also forced nudity, forcing some of the hostages to strip and shower while being watched or trying to force them into marriage."

The researchers also interviewed a victim of attempted rape at the Nova festival who required 17 months to come forward. "We know from therapists there are more but they are still too traumatized to speak," Zagagi-Pinhas added.

The investigation included interviews with 17 people who witnessed or heard attacks, providing detailed descriptions of the violence. These witnesses included two brothers who hid under bushes and Tali Biner, a nurse who concealed herself inside a container. They described 15 incidents including gang rapes.

Additionally, researchers spoke with 27 first responders who described "dozens of cases in different locations" while analyzing forensic evidence from photographs and videos.

"What we found makes clear that sexual violence including rape and gang rape took place in multiple locations," Halperin-Kaddari stated.

"We found patterns of evidence," Zagagi-Pinhas added. "Women found dead, naked and mutilated — with gunshots in their genitalia — and tied to trees. The fact that the same things happened in three to six locations can't be coincidence but proof this was premeditated."

She reported that "dozens" of bodies of young women were stripped and some were tied to trees or poles. "Many of the witnesses we spoke to talk of the victims being shot and them still trying to rape a dead body," she said.

The report's primary objective is demanding justice, providing what Halperin-Kaddari describes as "a blueprint for how to secure justice in cases of mass atrocities when many of the victims are dead and it is impossible to point at a specific perpetrator."

"We see October 7 as a test case," said Ben-Or, the retired judge. "Authorities are used to seeking justice on an individual case but here we have mass cases and most victims were murdered or too traumatized to speak which creates profound challenges for establishing accountability so we needed to come up with a new legal framework and new ways to prosecute."

"Sexual violence in conflict is about destruction and dehumanizing a community so the idea you have to find a specific perpetrator who harmed a specific victim is irrelevant," she added. "To say 'When I joined Hamas I meant only to murder women and children, but I am very much against rape' is ridiculous. Everything that was done within the framework of the attack you are responsible for."

The report calls for the UN secretary-general to send a fact-finding mission in light of the testimonies and to include Hamas in the blacklist in the UN's annual report of those designated for using sexual violence as a weapon of war.

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