JERUSALEM, Israel – A new report based on the testimony of former hostages held in Gaza details the abuse they suffered at the hands of Hamas.

The U.S. has been a major backer of Israel in its battle against Hamas, Hezbollah, and other enemies since the war began more than a year ago.

Since Hamas' brutal October 7th attack on Israel, the United States has provided the Jewish nation with 78 percent of the weapons Israel is using in its seven-front war. Those weapons are worth about $22 billion.

Israel's Health Ministry submitted a report to the United Nations this week documenting the horrible physical, sexual, and psychological abuse the hostages in Gaza have suffered.

The testimony that comes from released and freed hostages – women, men, and children – says the abuse included, "(They) were denied medical treatment for acute injuries caused during October 7...(and) about half of the returned hostages described being deliberately starved during their captivity.” 

Natan Sharansky, a Jewish "refusenik" and a hero among dissidents protesting human rights abuses in the former Soviet Union, now an Israeli citizen, told CBN News the report exposes the hypocrisy in the world's thinking about the Hamas-held hostages.

"Women's organizations who were not ready to accept that if rapists are from the 'oppressed,' and the raped women are 'oppressors,' then it's not a crime in their eyes," Sharansky declared.

Sharansky, who served nine years in Soviet prisons for spreading the truth about human rights abuses, says the report on the Hamas abuse is difficult to read, but Israelis are all thinking about it.

"It can remind people why our struggle is so justified," Sharansky stated, "and why we are not ready to stop the struggle as long as our hostages are in their hands and as long as our security is unguaranteed."

A new twist in the battle to free the hostages: Hamas is now demanding a week-long ceasefire, and only several days into that ceasefire would it release a list of hostages – both living and dead – still in Gaza.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz is threatening more destruction if Hamas doesn't start freeing hostages soon.

"The IDF will intensify and strengthen its activities against the nests of terrorism in Gaza until the hostages are released and Hamas is eliminated," Katz warned.

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