Amit Soussana, a 40-year-old Israeli woman who spent 55 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, returned to Israel as part of the hostage release deal in November 2023.

On October 7th, Soussana hid inside a closet in her home on Kibbuz Kfar Aza but was dragged out by Hamas terrorists. She bravely resisted her abduction, fighting and kicking seven Hamas terrorists as they tried to drag her across a field to Gaza.

“The abduction was very violent,” she told reporters after her release. “I kept resisting until they eventually tied me up by my arms and legs and dragged me on the floor. It took them over an hour to take me to the border. I was beaten up really badly. My entire face and body were bruised and swollen.”

Once in Gaza, she was held alone for about two weeks and endured being assaulted by her Hamas guard, and then was moved from place to place, including an underground tunnel, and held with other hostages.

In a clip from a recent interview with Channel 12 [which is being aired in full on Tuesday evening], she revealed that Liri Albag, one of the female soldiers who was released on Shabbos, saved her life, an incident mentioned by Liri’s father Eli in an interview on Sunday.

In the clip, Soussana repeated how she fought off the Hamas terrorists on October 7. “The UAVs were flying over me, I began fighting them off, refusing to let them scare me – I’m not going without a fight.”

She then recounts the incident with Liri, although the full details of the incident are not included in the clip.

“The terrorist told me: ‘You have 40 minutes to tell the truth. If not, I’ll kill you,'” Soussana said. “And Liri had power over him because she is strong. I felt very weak next to him.”

The interviewer expressed his amazement: “You mean that this girl, this young soldier next to you…”

Soussana nodded in agreement: “She’s something special. And I told her: ‘You saved my life.'”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)