Accepting the US State Department’s 2025 International Woman of Courage Award, former Hamas hostage and sexual assault survivor Amit Soussana called Tuesday for global action to secure the immediate release of the remaining captives in Gaza.
“It is an incredible honor to stand before you today, but it is also a deeply painful moment,” said Soussana, who was one of eight women from around the world presented with the award at a State Department ceremony in Washington, but the only one given a personal shout-out by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the only one asked to give keynote remarks to those in attendance.
Soussana was presented with the award by Rubio and First Lady Melania Trump.
“While I am here, my friends remain in the darkness. Five hundred and forty-three long days and nights. They are still suffering, still waiting, still hoping. Their voices remain unheard. So I will speak for them. We cannot move forward until they are free,” she said in her remarks.
Soussana was abducted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led thousands of attackers in an invasion of southern Israel. The assault killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, with terrorists also abducting 251 people as hostages to the Gaza Strip, triggering the ongoing war.
Footage showed the moments when a mob of gunmen dragged Soussana across a field to captivity in Gaza. The Israeli woman could be seen kicking and fighting against her abductors, causing one of them to fall to the ground, at which point the terrorists beat her. Soussana agreed to have the footage publicized following her release, and it was first aired on Channel 12 news.
Amit Sousanna was abducted to Gaza by 2 Hamas terrorists and another 7 Gazan “innocent civilians” pic.twitter.com/byywJmelOT
— Hamas Atrocities (@HamasAtrocities) October 7, 2024
She was released as part of the first hostage release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in November 2023, which lasted a week. Another ceasefire deal, mediated by the US, Egypt, and Qatar, was reached in January this year and included the release of dozens of hostages in small batches, but the truce collapsed after several weeks when Israel resumed fighting.
There are currently 59 hostages still held in Gaza, at least 24 of them believed still alive and held in appalling conditions. Many returned hostages, and in particular those from the second ceasefire, have described being held in dank tunnels without fresh air or light, under abysmal sanitation conditions, including starvation and physical and psychological abuse.
Since her release, Soussana has advocated around the world on behalf of those still held in Gaza and became the first former hostage to speak about the sexual violence she endured while in captivity.
“In captivity, I had no control over my body, no control over my life. I resisted as best as I could, but it was not enough to stop what happened to me,” she said.
“The darkness was suffocating. Yet even in the darkness, there was one thing they could not have taken from me, the strength my mother instilled in me. The belief that we must always stand for what is right, no matter the cost.”
Amit Soussana, attorney and Israeli hostage survivor of the October 7th, 2023, attack by Hamas, speaks during the International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 1, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
“I vowed that if I would survive, I would never be silent. I would speak — not just for myself, but for every woman who had been silenced,” Soussana said. “When I first told my story, I only wanted to raise awareness about the horrors of captivity and the terror of October 7, but my story became part of a much bigger conversation — one about sexual violence, about war, and about the unimaginable strength of women in the face of brutality.”
“In Israel, we’re about to celebrate Passover — the story of liberation, of breaking free from bondage. But this will be the second Passover that the hostages remain in captivity,” she lamented.
“I accept this award, not for myself, but in the name of all the brave women of Israel, the women who endure, who led, who refused to break. Women are stronger. We are the stronger gender, not because we do not feel pain, but because we rise from it, because we fight — not just for ourselves, but for those who cannot fight for themselves.”
Amit Soussana arrives in Israel after being held as a hostage for 55 days by the Hamas terror group, November 30, 2023. (Courtesy)
“This award comes at a critical moment. The hostages cannot wait. Every single day that passes is another day of unimaginable suffering. With every passing moment, their pain deepens, their hope fades and their chances of survival diminish,” she said.
“I call on the world to act to bring them home now, not tomorrow, not next week. Now.”
Negotiations to revive the January ceasefire process have so far failed to bear fruit.
Mass protests in Israel have urged the government to reach a sweeping deal that would bring home all of the remaining hostages, dead and alive, in one go rather than the creeping releases seen so far.
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