Any Israeli hostages who became pregnant after being raped by their Hamas captors in Gaza will have to decide whether to keep their babies or terminate the pregnancy after their release, according to a new report.
Israeli Ministry of Welfare and Health officials are drawing up detailed plans to deal with possible unwanted pregnancies among women abducted by terrorists after the deadly October 7 attack, local newspaper Walla! reported.
In Israel, a pregnancy termination committee usually decides whether to grant an abortion request – but officials are considering bypassing that step to reduce red tape in the case of any pregnant ex-prisoners.
More than 130 Israelis still remain in the grip of Hamas after nearly four months, including young women and teenage girls, with initial information suggesting that some have been sexually abused, both during the initial attack – as seen in a gruesome video circulating in line – and in brackets.
Public authorities, assisted by the Israel Defense Forces, are creating a program that will coordinate all available resources to treat sexually abused hostages – including women at different stages of pregnancy – who will receive medical and psychological help.
Israeli officials are preparing for the possibility that a female Hamas hostage will break out of captivity pregnant through rape. X/Daniel Brenner Pregnant prisoners can decide whether to abort or remain pregnant. AFP via Getty Images
The Wolfson Hospital in the city of Holon has provided the infrastructure and established protocols to receive released prisoners.
As part of the first stage, the medical staff will examine each patient for injuries and, if she is found to be pregnant, assess the development of the fetus.
In the second stage, former Hamas hostages will be offered help to process their trauma.
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At that point, they have to decide whether to terminate their pregnancy, if it can still be done in a safe way for the mother, or carry it to term.
Women who decide to keep their babies will receive financial, legal and mental health support from the government, the outlet reported.
French Jewish women staged a protest at the Paris feminist march to denounce a French women’s group for its silence against the female Hamas victims of the October 7 terrorist attacks. Maya Vidon-White/UPI/Shutterstock
During a discussion in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, on Tuesday, Chen Almog-Goldstein, 49, who was released from captivity after more than 50 days in Gaza, revealed that some of the young female hostages had stopped menstruating.
“There is a girl who has not had her period for a long time. Maybe we all need to pray that their bodies protect them and that they don’t get pregnant as a result of rape,” he said.
In urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and foreign leaders to act quickly to free the remaining hostages, relatives of the female captives insisted that the longer their loved ones remain in captivity, the higher the risk they will become pregnant.
The father of hostage Liri Albag who is 18 years old is worried about his safety. He has not been seen or heard from in over 50 days. Handout
The main concern is that if the women are not released for another few months, it will be too late to terminate their pregnancy.
“I’m not sure how they will cope, but we must prepare now for the possibility of this horrible theory of a woman conceiving or raising such a child. Therefore, we must stop this cruelty, not allow the captives to perish there, bring them back, and give them care,” Professor Tal Biron-Shental, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, recently told Israel . Maariv publication.
Harrowing accounts shared by former hostages fueled fears that sexual violence in the Gaza tunnels, where Israelis are believed to be kept, is rife.
Former captive Aviva Siegel recently told Israeli lawmakers that she witnessed members of the terrorist group carrying female captives in “inappropriate clothes, doll clothes.”
Former hostages shared that women held by Hamas were given “doll clothes” and treated like “dolls”. AP
The female hostages have been turned into “dolls with whom they can do what they want, when they want, and it’s unbelievable that they’re still there,” Siegel said.
Eli Albag, the father of 18-year-old Liri Albag, who was snatched from her bed by Hamas attackers on October 7 and has not been seen or heard from in more than 50 days, told reporters in London this week that when he asked the freed captive if women were being raped , he looked away.
“He was quiet but he moved his face so I understood something was going on there,” he said. “The hostage saw something, but he didn’t want to tell us.”
“We know that some girls – it’s very difficult to say this – [the terrorists] assault them, sexually, and we are worried,” added the heartbroken father.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
