Freed Israeli Hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal Describes Sexual Assault by Hamas Captors During Two Years in Gaza

Guy Gilboa-Dalal was abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. He was held in Gaza for two years before being freed. He is 24 now, and he has decided to talk.

In a recorded interview with Israeli First Lady Michal Herzog, Gilboa-Dalal described two separate incidents of sexual assault carried out by his Hamas captors, according to the New York Post's account of the interview. The details are explicit and disturbing, reported here because they are material to understanding what Hamas did to hostages in captivity.

What He Described

In the first incident, a captor blindfolded Gilboa-Dalal, ordered him to strip, and taunted him about pornography before groping his body and kissing his neck and back. "I couldn't do anything, I just wanted him to stop," Gilboa-Dalal said. The assault lasted approximately 20 minutes. Afterward, the captor pressed a knife to his neck, then placed a gun to his head, and told him he would be killed if he ever disclosed what happened.

Gilboa-Dalal said he was forced to tell his tormenter that he loved him before he was let go.

A second incident occurred when he was allowed to shower. His captor brought him into a room while he was still naked, refused to let him dress, and rubbed his genitals against him for another 20 minutes. "He threw me on a couch and held my head toward the opposite direction from him," Gilboa-Dalal said. "He came behind me and started rubbing his genitals on my anus. Every second was like an entire lifetime. I felt even more powerless than before. I couldn't resist, and even if I wanted to, I was too weak." That assault also ended with a threat: tell anyone, and you die. The captor also beat him before issuing the warning.

Why He's Speaking Now

Gilboa-Dalal said he felt a "mission" to go public. "I feel like I have a mission to spread to the world, to use my voice and empower other victims of sexual assaults," he told Herzog. He directly encouraged other former hostages who experienced similar abuse to come forward.

Sexual violence in conflict is systematically underreported. Male victims face compounding stigma. The threats Gilboa-Dalal described — a knife, then a gun, at the moment of silencing — illustrate precisely why survivors often say nothing for months or years.

What Comes Next

Gilboa-Dalal said he believes other hostages experienced similar abuse and have not yet spoken. His public account is, as of the interview's release, a survivor's statement. Whether other survivors come forward, and whether accounts like his are formally documented by investigators and prosecutors, will determine whether this testimony becomes part of a prosecutable record or remains a public statement without a formal legal proceeding attached to it.