'I did what I did. I raped her.’ Palestinian terrorist testimony about atrocities on Oct. 7

The IDF released footage on Thursday evening from the interrogation of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist who admitted raping a young Israeli woman on October 7. 

Unit 504 of the Military Intelligence Directorate revealed the footage just days after former hostage Amit Soussana, an Israeli lawyer who lived alone on Kibbutz Kfar Aza detailed her harrowing experience of being raped during her captivity in Gaza to The New York Times,

The terrorist, Manar Mahmoud Muhammad Qassem, an operative of the naval force of the PIJ terrorist organization in Gaza, was apprehended at the beginning of March by Unit 504 IDF soldiers who operated under the 98th Division in the Khan Younis area. During his interrogation, he provided a detailed account of the atrocities he committed against an Israeli woman he discovered hiding inside a house. 

He began: "First thing in the morning I got up and went to the command-and-control center. A friend, Mahmoud al-Kush, told me to come. We crossed the fence in the eastern area, between Khazu'ah and al-Fukhari. I had a pistol and two grenades with me.” 

“We walked and I got off in front of the jeep and we walked a bit,” Qassem continued. “The person who was with me got shot in the head. Out of fear, I went into a house on the kibbutz."

"At first, when I entered there was no one there but then I went into a room and saw that someone was there," he said. "She was scared, scared of me. I took her and threw her on the couch.” 

Qassem described the woman.

“She had hair that wasn’t very long, like normal, and she was thin. She wore a blue skirt and a white shirt and sandals.” 

The interrogator then asked, “So you entered the house and saw her in the room; what did you do?” 

"Satan took control of me, I laid her down, I started undressing her, and I did what I did.” 

“What did you do?” The interrogator asked. 

“I slept with her.” 

When the interrogator demanded clarification, Qassem responded, “I raped her.” 

Qassem also described becoming afraid when he heard gunfire near the house, prompting his decision to leave. As he began to leave, he was approached by two Israeli men. He admitted to shooting one of them with his handgun, tossing a grenade, and then leaving the kibbutz.

The IDF stated: “The footage of the interrogation is further proof of the onslaught of murder and sexual violence by the terrorist organizations on October 7, in an attempt to make the voices of those who can no longer tell be heard.” 

The released interviews are used to demonstrate the importance of Israel’s continued operations in Khan Younis and central Gaza, which have resulted in the elimination or capture of many terrorists, including those who participated in the Oct. 7 atrocities. 

The interrogations also provide additional intelligence to assist the IDF in conducting precise operations to neutralize members of the terrorist organization.

The IDF also said:

"Since the beginning of the war, the IDF has been engaged in collecting forensic and intelligence materials intended to expose to the world the extent of the war crimes committed by Hamas. We are gathering these materials together with the ISA and the Israel Police, and centralizing a comprehensive base of information that we are using to detail Hamas’ war crimes to the world. This content is difficult and painful, but it is our duty to expose and talk about it as part of our obligation to bring the hostages home, and as part of our duty to tell the story of the civilians, including the women whose voices will no longer be heard."