Former Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, 21, has spoken publicly for the first time about the sexual violence and torture he endured during his two-year captivity in Gaza under Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
In a heart-wrenching interview with Israel’s Channel 13, Braslavski described being stripped naked, tied up, and assaulted, saying the acts were meant to humiliate and destroy his dignity. “It was sexual violence, and its main purpose was humiliation,” he said.
Braslavski, who was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival during the October 7, 2023 attacks, was captured when Hamas and allied groups stormed southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
His ordeal worsened after he refused to convert from Judaism to Islam in March 2024, coinciding with the collapse of an earlier ceasefire. He said he was blindfolded for weeks, denied food and water, and repeatedly beaten.
In August 2025, PIJ released a video showing Braslavski emaciated and pleading for help. He said that after the video’s release, his captors began sexually assaulting him, describing the abuse as relentless and dehumanizing. “You just pray to God for it to stop,” he said.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog praised Braslavski’s “extraordinary courage” in speaking out, urging the world to recognize the “heinous cruelty and sexual violence” committed against hostages.
A PIJ official dismissed the allegations as “incorrect,” while the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict earlier found “convincing information” that sexualized torture had been used against hostages in Gaza.
Braslavski’s testimony adds to mounting evidence of sexual violence against both Israeli hostages and Palestinians, as UN reports accuse both sides of abuse amid the ongoing war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in Gaza.
