Survivors of Gaza Captivity Reveal Unimaginable Abuse and Enduring Hope
The stories emerging from the freed hostages are gut-wrenching — scenes of cages, chains, and pits that echo sheer brutality. After two years in Hamas captivity, the survivors, now safely back in Israel, are beginning to share the horrors they endured through their families, detailing relentless beatings, starvation, and psychological torment.
In these accounts of cruelty, there are also flashes of courage — small acts of rebellion and faith that sustained them through endless days of darkness.
At Rabin Medical Center, where several of the released hostages are being treated, families have begun to share updates about the survivors’ conditions. “We always knew he had the emotional ability to survive, but honestly, his abilities were beyond anything we could imagine,” said Idit Ohel, whose son, Alon, returned home after more than 700 days in captivity.
She explained that Alon had been living for two years with shrapnel embedded in his head and right eye, leaving his vision impaired. Surgeons expect that, with treatment, his sight can be greatly improved.
Prof. Itai Pessach, associate director-general of Sheba Medical Center, said that “every one of them has endured untold adversity and horrors, and therefore the road for recovery is going to be a very long one.”
The testimonies gathered so far reveal a pattern of severe abuse. Tami Braslavski, mother of released hostage Rom Braslavski, said her son was whipped and beaten “with things that I will not even mention” over several months. He survived, she said, because he “knew it would end.”
Avinatan Or’s father, Yaron, recounted his son’s experience of being handcuffed, confined, and punished after attempting to flee. “Avinatan tried to escape from captivity, and then they beat him,” he told Kan radio. “He was handcuffed to the bars. It was a barred place 1.8 meters [six feet] high, and the length of it was the length of the mattress, plus a little. You can call it a cage.”
The suffering was not only physical. Kobi Kalfon, father of freed hostage Segev Kalfon, broke down while describing the “horrific two years of captivity” his son had to endure, saying he still struggles to process the depth of the trauma.
Some of the worst abuse took place just before the captives’ release. Rabbi Avi Ohana, father of Yosef-Haim Ohana, said his son had been buried alive in a cramped underground pit with six other men. “They could not sit, only lean against the wall while standing. He lacked oxygen. I thank God, who made him strong. What kept him going was his family,” the rabbi said.
Yaron Or said his son spent his entire imprisonment inside a tunnel. “They didn’t starve him, but the food was scarce. He is very thin,” he said.
The captors also waged psychological warfare. Braslavski’s mother said her son was pressured to convert to Islam, with promises of better food and conditions if he complied. When he refused, they taunted him with lies that Israel had abandoned him and that the country had fallen apart. “They told him that we were broken, that we didn’t have the strength to get up and protest,” she said. “That he apparently wasn’t so important and that he had nowhere to go back to. They told him Israel had fallen, that almost 3,000 soldiers had fallen.”
Rabbi Ohana recalled that his son and another hostage were forced to listen to religious broadcasts in Arabic, but the two managed to manipulate the radio wires and pick up Israeli army broadcasts instead. There, Yosef-Haim heard his father’s voice. “He said to himself, ‘My father is alive! He is waiting for me!’ and it gave him new life,” the rabbi said.
Acts of quiet defiance became a lifeline. Tami Braslavski said her son once used fire from a terrorist’s uniform to cook pasta, surviving on half a pita a day while chained by his hands and feet. The small blaze caught attention, and though it led to his relocation, it also improved his conditions slightly.
At Sheba Medical Center, doctors are cautiously optimistic. Pessach said all ten released hostages under their care are stable. “As a physician and as a human being, I can’t emphasize enough the impact of being surrounded by their loved ones on the general well-being and their ability to heal,” he said. “They’ll probably need weeks, months and maybe years to heal, but they’ll finally be taking the first steps to return to life.”
Dr. Michal Steinman, nursing director at Rabin Medical Center, said the five hostages there are struggling with “severe but treatable nutrition problems.” She added, “The body remembers those 700-plus days of captivity and starvation. Medically, right now, we don’t have any surprises. The hostages interact, they smile. They came with a big drive to heal, recover and rehabilitate.”
Steinman said she feels “very optimistic” about their recovery. “It’s going to be a very long road, and there are going to be ups and downs, but I think each one of them developed really special techniques of survival and how to keep their mind and soul guarded,” she explained.
Family members have described the joy and disbelief that followed the captives’ homecoming. Gali and Ziv Berman, twin brothers who were held separately, were stunned to discover that they would be reunited. “We didn’t know where [the other twin] was. Suddenly, they brought him out,” Gali told President Isaac Herzog.
Idit Ohel, speaking for her family, said, “It’s up to us to ensure that the new home we build here will be a complete home, that it will be a safe home, in the deepest sense of the word.”
The overwhelming emotion of relief was evident as Sylvia Cunio, mother of released hostages David and Ariel Cunio, faced the press. Raising her fist, she declared with tears and triumph, “My children are home!”
Yotam Cohen, brother of freed soldier Nimrod Cohen, expressed both heartbreak and gratitude. He told Haaretz that his brother had endured “unthinkable atrocities,” including being held in a cage for over a year and a half, blindfolded, interrogated, and beaten. “They treated him worse because he was a soldier,” he said. Yet, seeing Nimrod’s smile after his release convinced him that “the same Nimrod returned.”
He added that the captors tried to convince the soldiers that “Israel gave up on them, that the government didn’t want to bring them back, that the country wasn’t fighting for them,” but that lie didn’t hold. Against all odds, they survived — physically battered, emotionally scarred, but unbroken.
{Matzav.com}
