“I came back from the dead” – these are the words a former Hamas hostage uses to describe her captivity in the Gaza Strip. “Every day was endless, it was absolute despair,” says Liat A. Many other affected people also report – of hunger and thirst, abuse, bans, the incredible suffering of the children, supply bottlenecks and terrible sanitary conditions.
Liat A., a 49-year-old history professor, only found out after her release that her husband had been murdered on October 7. She reports terrible conditions, the lack of medicine and food.
‘Children were not allowed to cry’
Released mothers who were kidnapped together with their children also talk about this. “It was forbidden to cry, laugh or speak loudly,” says Hagar B., who was kidnapped along with her three children between the ages of four and ten.
“You cannot teach a four-year-old child to cry quietly. The children were hungry, they received one flatbread a day. I don’t want a mother to have to beg to give her children something to eat.” It was an “abomination” not to be able to protect their offspring.
“Resisting means risking your life”
German-Israeli Jarden R. said of her captivity: “As a woman you are constantly afraid of being raped or sexually abused, you have no way to defend yourself. To resist means to risk your life, this fear never leaves you.” Her sister-in-law Carmel G. is still being held in the Gaza Strip, along with thirteen other women.
Amit S. talks about her abuse in captivity in an extensive interview with the New York Times. A guard “pointed the gun at me and forced me to perform a sex act on him,” the 40-year-old said. She is the only former hostage who has so far had the courage to explicitly describe sexual violence.
“They turned these girls into dolls”
But former prisoner Aviva S. also reports abuse, especially against young women: “They made dolls of these girls that they could use at will. I’m a witness, I saw a girl being tortured. I would like to go back and protect her.”
Housed in tunnels for weeks
Aviva was kidnapped from her home with her husband Keith on October 7. She went “through hell” for 51 days. “We were not allowed to speak, we were not allowed to get up, I was hungry and thirsty,” she says, describing her time in Hamas hands. For weeks the hostages were kidnapped from tunnel to tunnel.
In late November, Aviva was released as part of a prisoner exchange; her husband is still in the hands of Hamas to this day. The 60-year-old woman’s T-shirt reads: “Bring Keith home NOW!”
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
