4 hours ago
4
After the jubilation in Israel of the return of the last Gaza hostages, stories of their time in captivity, hidden away in tents and tunnels, are emerging.
Some described being tortured and tormented. Others, though, recalled moments of co-existence with their captors under the most extreme of circumstances. One played cards with the men holding him and even cooked for them. Another said the captors would speak Hebrew for ease of communication.
All, though, shared moments of extraordinary danger.
The start of the story of Avinatan Or’s abduction will be familiar to many, thanks to footage of it being shared around the world on 7 October 2023.
The 32-year-old was with his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, at the Nova music festival when Hamas attacked. She could be seen screaming to him from a Hamas vehicle as he was walked away at gunpoint. Now we know a little more about what happened next.
Or was held alone for the two years that he was in Hamas’s captivity, only meeting the other remaining hostages on Monday as they were released, according to the Israeli broadcaster Channel 12.
He was starved and he was terrified. An initial medical examination found that he had lost between 30% and 40% of his body weight.
Upon his release, Or reportedly asked to spend time alone with Argamani, who was freed by Israeli forces last year. The two shared what they described as their “first cigarette together after two years”.
Omri Miran, 48, a father of two and shiatsu massage therapist, was held in 23 different places in Gaza, above ground and in tunnels, according to his brother Nadav.
“Sometimes he would cook food for his captors, and they loved his cooking,” Nadav told the Ynet news site. “He knew exactly what the date was and roughly what day it was. He knew exactly how many days he was in captivity. They spent most of their days playing cards with their captors.”
Miran was reunited with his daughters Roni, four, and Alma, two, on Monday, and was captured on camera playing with them for the first time in 24 months. “He looks pale, but his humour is the same,” Nadav said. “It feels as though he never left.”
Moving images were also shared on Monday of Elkana Bohbot, 36, one of the organisers of the Nova music festival, being reunited with his five-year-old son.
It has emerged that he spent most of his time chained in a tunnel, where he lost all sense of time and space. But he remembered his wedding day, he told his wife.
He insisted on being able to shower on that day. His captors initially refused the request, it is said, but they eventually relented and removed his chains. It is also said that he was able to view news of his family members appealing for his release and attending rallies at “hostages square” in Tel Aviv.
It is clear that each of the hostages had unique experiences. Among the most brutal of those who walked out alive might be that of Matan Angrest, who is a soldier.
The 22-year-old’s mother, Anat Angrest, said her son had experienced “very severe torture” during his initial months in captivity. “He remembers being beaten so badly that he lost consciousness,” she told Channel 12. “They covered him with black sacks and dragged him away.”
Her son also told her how the walls of the tunnels where he was held had collapsed around him under Israeli fire.
Her son had been confined in a small, dark tunnel for the last four months. “He was alone for a long period, under special guard”, she said. But Matan told her he refused to break for the “monsters” who held him captive.
He was shown very little news from his captors, “and for the rest of the time, they suffered severe psychological warfare, that [Israelis] gave up on them, that [Hamas] was going to conquer the country, that they are planning the next October 7.”
Other lies told by captors, she said, included the claim that his maternal grandparents – who are Holocaust survivors – were dead. Learning they are still alive after returning from Gaza had “motivated” him, she said.
The accounts suggest there was a change of approach by Hamas to some of the hostages in recent weeks as negotiations over a ceasefire progressed.
Ilan Gilboa-Dalal told the Kan public broadcaster that her son, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, was held with fellow hostage Evyatar David in a tunnel until a month ago. “Then they took him for a ride in a vehicle around Gaza, and did not bring him back to the tunnel with Evyatar, but put him in a tunnel in Gaza City with [Israeli hostage] Alon Ohel” until their release on Monday, Gilboa-Dalal said.
Over the past month, her son had been “force-fed,” she claimed, adding that he believed that the captors were motivated to feed him following the international outcry over the video of an emaciated David being forced to dig his own grave.
The 28-year-old twin brothers Gali and Ziv Berman, who were taken from kibbutz Kfar Aza near the Gaza border, were held separately and completely cut off from the outside world throughout their time.
While they were held in the same area, they were unaware that they would be reunited upon their release. They told relatives on Monday that there were periods in which there was a lack of food, and other times when they received more.
Some of their captors reportedly spoke to them in Hebrew. A report from Channel 12 said the brothers could hear the Israel Defense Forces near them while in captivity. The brothers, who work together as lighting technicians, gave a thumbs-up to the cameras on their release as they were driven away back home together.
