Hostages reveal torment of 50 days in Gaza tunnels
The Hamas hostages have spoken of what they endured during captivity and what life was like in the dark tunnels beneath Gaza. Warning: Graphic
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Harrowing stories are beginning to emerge from hostages forced to endure 50 days below ground with their Hamas militant captors, not knowing if loved ones were alive or dead.
Hospital staff of those now freed have medically cleared most as physically healthy given the circumstance but the mental toll was too early to evaluate.
Most had lost weight and reported only being fed irregularly when their Hamas captors could obtain food which had become increasingly harder as war raged above them.
The relentless bombing by Israeli forces gave them as much hope of a possible rescue as it did imminent death with it clear no-one knew where they were being held.
Merav Raviv said her now freed aunt Ruthie Munder and cousin Keren Munder reported being given a diet of pita bread and rice, similar to what their militant captors ate. Early on there was cheese and cucumber.
They slept where they could, mostly on the floor or on old mattresses but also on plastic chairs pushed together. Going to the toilet became a chore and hostages reported sometimes having to knock on the door of the room they were being held in, having to wait an hour and a half to be escorted to the toilet.
Ms Raviv said her three relatives released by captors had lost about 7 kgs each.
Adva Adar, the grandchild of 85-year-old released hostage Yaffa Adar, said her grandmother had also lost weight.
“She counted the days of her captivity,” Adar said. “She came back and she said, ‘I know that I’ve been there for 50 days.’”
Most of the hostages were still wearing the same clothes they were wearing when snatched on October 7.
Yair Rotem, whose 12-year-old niece Hila Rotem-Shoshani was released Sunday, said he had to keep reminding her she didn’t still need to whisper.
“They always told them to whisper and stay quiet, so I keep telling her now she can raise her voice,” he said.
Most of the hostages reported having to adjust to sunlight after being held in tunnels.
Adina Moshe, 72, told relatives she was in complete darkness most of the time, “walking with her eyes down because she was in a tunnel”.
They entered what they described as a dank labyrinth of tunnels below Gaza and separated into small groups to be held. They were repeatedly advised they would not be harmed.
But like Palestinian civilians above ground experienced, they felt and could hear the constant shelling with some only suspecting something was about to change in their circumstance when the battlefield fell silent for the four-day truce.
Israel Defence Force spokesman Lt Colonel Jonathan Conricus confirmed some had been given medical attention from doctors when needed but were not physically tortured.
He said it was no coincidence Hamas had only so far let out those who were in the best possible health and had been “treated in the least horrible way”.
“I asked myself how were the hostages treated? I think it is no coincidence that the people that Hamas decided to let out first are people who perhaps were treated in the least horrible way in Hamas captivity,” he told Sky News Australia.
“As time goes by – and we are committed to getting each and every Israeli hostage back home – I am sure we will hear horrible stories with the men there and (other) adults I’m sure what they will say and what they will expose of Hamas brutality will be a totally different story to what we are seeing now which is a staged and orchestrated event run by Hamas specifically to get that message across.”
THE HOSTAGES
RUTH MUNDAR, HER DAUGHTER KEREN, AND GRANDSON OHAD
Three generations of one family were released in the first group of Israeli hostages: 78-year-old Ruth Mundar, her daughter Keren, 54, and Keren’s son Ohad, who turned nine in captivity.
Keren and Ohan, from Kfar Saba north of Tel Aviv, were visiting Ruth and her husband Abraham (also 78) when they were kidnapped. Abraham is still believed to be held in Gaza, while Keren’s brother, Roee, 50, was killed in the October 7 attack.
DANIELLE ALONI AND HER DAUGHTER EMILIA
Danielle Aloni, 45, and five-year-old daughter Emilia were hiding in the safe room at the home of Danielle’s sister, Sharon Aloni-Konio, when attackers set fire to the house before capturing them.
Danielle appeared in a video released by Hamas on October 30. Nine members of the family were taken in total: Danielle and Emilia, along with Sharon, 34, her actor husband David Konio, 33, his brother Ariel, 26, Ariel’s partner Arbel Yahod, 28, and her brother Dolev Yahod, 35.
DORON KATZ-ASHER AND HER TWO DAUGHTERSRAZ AND AVIV
Doron Katz-Asher, 34, and her two daughters Raz, 4, and Aviv, 2, were visiting Doron’s mother, Efrat Katz, when they were kidnapped. Efrat died in the attack. The three freed hostages have dual German nationality.
Doron’s husband, Yoni Asher, who that day had stayed at their home in Tel Aviv, recognised his wife and daughters in a video. Doron’s brother Ravid was also kidnapped, as well Efrat’s partner Gadi Moses and his ex-wife Margalit Moses.
ADINA MOSHE
Adina’s husband Said David Moshe was shot and killed by militants during the October 7 attacks, but she suffered a double trauma when she was forced to hold on to the man who had just murdered him as she was taken away on motorbike. The 72 year old had heart surgery last year and needs medication.
MARGALIT MOSES
The 77 year old, who has cancer and requires daily medical care according to her relatives, appeared in a video showing her capture from Nir Oz. She also has dual German nationality.
HANNA KATZIR
Hannah Katzir, 76, a former nanny, was reported dead by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group during her captivity – proof, said IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari, that the public “should rely on official sources” for their information. Hanna was abducted along with her son, Elad, 47. She uses a walking frame and needs medication, according to her family.
YAFFA ADAR
The 85 year old’s kidnapping aboard what appeared to be a golf cart was shared widely on social media.
She suffers from heart and kidney failure, and high blood pressure. Tamir Adar, her grandson, was also taken hostage.
CHANNAH PERI
The 79 year old, who has dual South African nationality, was on the phone with her daughter when the attackers burst into her home. According to her daughter, Channah is diabetic and needs insulin.
GELIENOR “JIMMY” LEANO PACHECO
The only Filipino hostage released so far, the 33 year old father of three was working as a caregiver at Nir Oz kibbutz.
ELMA AVRAHAM
The 84-year-old artist was on the phone with a neighbour on October 7 when armed men burst into her home in Nahal Oz kibbutz at around 11am.
“There’s a terrorist in my house!” she told the neighbour.
Her son Uri Rawitz, with whom she had also spoken earlier, said Elma had not managed to lock the door to the safe room in her house.
Uri later received a photo of his mother being taken away on a motorcycle by armed fighters with another hostage.
Avraham’s second son, who also lives in Nahal Oz, escaped the attack.
AVIVA SIEGEL
The 62-year-old was taken from her home in the Kfar Aza kibbutz along with her American husband Keith, 64, who is still being held.
At the time of the early morning attack, the couple grabbed their phone and took refuge in the safe room of their home, still in their pyjamas, according to their son-in-law Yuval Baron.
He told The Guardian newspaper they had thought it was just another rocket attack, but soon afterwards Siegel and her husband were seen being taken away with other hostages by armed men.
Schoolteacher Aviva was born in South Africa but moved to Israel when she was eight. The couple have four children and five grandchildren.
HAGAR BRODETZ AND HER THREE CHILDREN, OFRI, YUVAL, ORIA
Avihai Brodetz said he was trying to defend Kfar Aza kibbutz when his wife Hagar, 40, and their three children were kidnapped.
Several days later he found out they had survived the attack but had been abducted along with Abigail, a neighbour’s child who had taken refuge in their home.
Ofri, the eldest child, marked her 10th birthday in captivity in Gaza. Her younger brothers Yuval and Oria are aged 8 and 4.
ABIGAIL EDAN
After seeing her parents killed at Kfar Aza, Abigail, who holds US citizenship, took refuge with the Brodetz family, and was kidnapped with them.
Michael and Amalya, her brother and sister, escaped the attack by hiding in a closet.
Abigail had her 4th birthday in Gaza on Friday.
CHEN ALMOG-GOLDSTEIN AND CHILDREN
A 48-year-old social worker, Chen Almog-Goldstein was kidnapped from Kfar Aza kibbutz with three of her four children: Agam, 17, Gal, 11, and nine-year-old Tal.
The children’s father Nadav Goldstein and Yam, the eldest daughter, were killed in the attack.
They are members of the family of Doron Almog, a former high-ranking army officer and current chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, a non-profit organisation that encourages Jews to immigrate to Israel.
Five members of the Almog family were killed in an October 2003 suicide attack on the Maxim restaurant in Haifa which was claimed by Hamas ally Islamic Jihad.
ELA AND DAFNA ELYAKIM
Ela, 8, and her sister Dafna, 15, were abducted from their father Noam Elyakim’s home in Nahal Oz kibbutz.
The day after the attack, their mother Maayan Zin saw a photo on WhatsApp of Dafna “sitting in pyjamas on a mattress in Gaza with the comment ‘In prayer clothes it would be better’”.
The bodies of the girls’ father, his partner Dikla and her son Tomer were found riddled with bullets in an empty lot.
Before he was shot, 17-year-old Tomer had been told by militants to go door-to-door and speak in Hebrew to convince his neighbours to leave their shelters.
Ela and Dafna also hold Hungarian nationality, according to media reports.
RON KRIVOY
The 25-year-old Russian-Israeli worked as a sound technician at the Tribe of Nova music festival attacked by the militants.
Initially he managed to escape and hide in a ditch, his sister Julia told Israeli media, but by noon an Arab-speaking person was answering his phone.
The youngest of three siblings, Krivoy was born in Israel, and, according to his father, had survived two car accidents and a fall into a sewer.
Hamas said he was being released outside the truce deal with Israel, and “in response to the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin and in appreciation of the Russian position in support of the Palestinian cause”.
MAYA REGEV
The 21-year-old, was part of the second group of hostages to be released and is the first hostage who was taken from the Supernova music festival in Re’im to be released.
She was captured just a few hours after coming into the country from a holiday in Mexico. Her brother Itay, 18, and their friend Omer She-Tov were also taken hostage and have not been released.
THE THAI HOSTAGES
According to reports, four of the Thai group were not previously confirmed as having been kidnapped, although Thai officials said there were still another 20 of their citizens held in Gaza. The Times of Israel listed the hostages as Natthawaree Moonkan, Santi Boonphrom, Boonthom Phankhong, Mongkhol Phajuabboon, Withoon Phumee, Wichai Kalapat, Bancha Kongmanee, Buddee Saengboon, Uthai Thunsri and Uthai Sangnuan. The BBC had previously identified Mr Kalapat as a hostage after his girlfriend recognised him on television.
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