Ilana Gritzewsky, the partner of Matan Zangauker, who has been held in Hamas captivity in Gaza for 691 days, delivered a harrowing address to the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday, recounting her abduction on Oct. 7, the sexual assault and beatings she endured, and her 55 days in captivity in homes, tunnels and squalid apartments.
“I'm here today before you not just to raise my voice, but also for those who are not able to be here today. Those who have still been kept hostage or those who were brutally assassinated,” she told ambassadors, clutching a photo of her partner.
Hamas captivity survivor Ilana Gritzewsky addresses the UN Security Council
(Video: UN)
Gritzewsky, who was born in Mexico and immigrated to Israel alone at age 16, described her childhood in a Jewish home, her studies in human rights and her work with international organizations, including UNICEF, the UN and the Red Cross.
She recounted being dragged from her home by terrorists, beaten, partially stripped, sexually assaulted and told she would never be released. “They dragged me across the floor, lifted me and threw me against the wall. They pointed their guns at me, and tried to film me with my phone. I raised my hands, told them I was Mexican. Begging them not to hurt me, not to rape me, not to shoot me, just let me go,” she said. When she awoke, she was surrounded by gunmen, with a broken jaw, fractured pelvis, burns and other injuries. One terrorist told her she was “beautiful,” promising she would never go free and would instead marry him and bear his children.
She described being locked in small rooms and shuttled between homes, tunnels and filthy apartments, often with little food or water. “We spent over 40 days there with barely any food, almost no water, constant psychological terror, no basic human or monetary needs such as medicine, showers, hygienic products,” she said, adding she lost 12 kilograms (25 pounds).
Four days before her release, she said she was moved to Nasser Hospital and then to a tunnel where she saw other hostages, including Eitan Horn and David Cunio — and learned her partner Matan was also being held in Gaza. “I begged to the terrorists to let me see him, they said ‘later’... Later never came. I did not get to see Matan. The next day, they told me I was leaving. I refused. I wanted to see Matan. I knew that if I left, my soul would remain there in Gaza. But they didn't let me stay. So I left with a hole in my heart."
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Hamas captivity survivor Ilana Gritzewsky addresses the UN Security Council holding a photo of herself with her partner Matan Zangauker who is held hostage in Gaza
(Photo: UN)
She described being subjected to false promises of release, repeated strip searches for tracking devices, and psychological manipulation until she was freed after 55 days.
She accused the international community of double standards, saying, "I'm mostly here today as a Mexican woman, because that's where I was born. Where the cartels kill and torture people, they call them as they are—terrorists, criminals, delinquents—the world doesn't hesitate to condemn them. So that's why I wonder: why Hamas, who burn children alive, rape women and mutilate bodies, kidnap children and adults, why are they not condemned in the same way? Why is Hamas considered differently? Why is it not considered the terrorist group that it is? Why are Jewish victims questioned and why are our accounts questioned when others are immediately believed? This is a double standard and it's not just hypocrisy, it's betrayal of the council."
Calling for urgent action, she said, “Do not turn away. Do not look for excuses. Do not allow political divisions to silence the voices of victims. Use your influence, your power, your responsibility to demand the unconditional release of every hostage. Not tomorrow, not in some distant future, but now. We need to make a deal. People in Israel want this war to end. Bring them home, bring Matan home, bring all of them home."