Ex-Hostage Amit Soussana Honored by US for Courage and Advocacy
Former hostage Amit Soussana was honored Tuesday in Washington by first lady Melania Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department’s annual International Women of Courage Awards. Soussana, who was abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and held in Gaza for 55 days, received the award for her outspoken advocacy on behalf of remaining hostages and for publicly sharing her experience of sexual violence in captivity.
“It is an incredible honor to stand before you today, but it is also a deeply painful moment,” Soussana said. “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.”
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She was the only honoree invited to give keynote remarks and the only one personally praised by Rubio. Her speech included a powerful call to the international community: “I call on the world to act to bring them home now, not tomorrow, not next week. Now.”
Sousaana was taken from her home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during Hamas’s attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted. She was released in the first round of a brief truce in November 2023.
Since her release, she has become a global voice for victims of wartime sexual violence and for the 59 hostages still believed to be held in Gaza. “I vowed that if I would survive, I would never be silent,” she said. “I accept this award not for myself, but in the name of all the brave women of Israel.”
