While more hostages are released by more than 15 months of captivity in the hands of terrorists in Gaza, the testimonies of their experiences began to emerge, painting an image of a deprivation, a loneliness and coherent abuse .
According to a report on Sunday on Ynet’s information site, the five soldiers of the Liberated Tsahos Surveillance, Agam Berger, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag, were frequently moved around the Gaza Tunnel Strip to apartments and were often separated from each other for weeks.
The report added that Naama Levy was maintained for lonely isolation for much of his time in captivity, and said that some of the surveillance soldiers were forced to work in a sort of work under contract for families of Their kidnappers, including cooking, cleaning and childcare.
According to Ynet, despite a significant deprivation of food and water, which forced them to even ration grains of rice, the soldiers hostage sought to preserve their Jewish identity and decided to fast on Yom Kippour and Refrain from eating Lea bread at Passover.
Agam Berger, the last of the five soldiers to be released, would have been strict in his observation of the Shabbat.
Freed hostage, Daniella Gilboa, wrote in her first Instagram post Sunday since she returned from Gaza eight days ago after 477 days in captivity of Hamas that her “last wish before being kidnapped” was that people did not do not abandon him.
A photo not dated four FDI surveillance soldiers has held the hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, which was made public by their families on July 16, 2024. Behind them is a framed photo of the leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh. From left to right: Liri Albag, Agam Berger, Daniella Gilboa and Karina Ariev. (Courtesy)
“What a crazy year I lived,” wrote Gilboa at the start of the long post, thanking the public for having supported his family, praying for her, not giving up and not believing the “horrible rumors” distributed by the Hamas terrorism group on his supposed death.
“I did not want to despair and say goodbye, so instead, I prayed and believed with all my heart that the end of me was not there, in this bombs refuge,” she writes.
“I prayed for all the girls with me for 30 minutes because I felt like I could do nothing better at the time … I knew that the only thing that could save us was faith.”
Released hostage, the soldier Agam Berger, on the right, meets Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy and Liri Albag, other soldiers also freed from the captivity of Hamas, at the Rabin Medical Center, on January 30, 2025. (Forces of Israeli defense)
She says that on Saturday, she and the other four soldiers of FDI surveillance have been published in recent days have recited Birkat Hagomel, a Jewish blessing of gratitude known as people who have survived a serious danger.
“It was the moment when I had been since I survived on October 7,” explains Gilboa. “To thank God for saving me from the worst against all odds.”
Released in the hostage of Oder Calderon, top left, finds his children Rotem, Gaya, Erez and Sahar on February 1, 2025. Erez and Sahar were also kidnapped on October 7, 2023 and were released in November 2023. (Ma ‘ Ayon Taof / GPO)
The former hostage Ofer Calderon, who was released on Saturday from the captivity of Hamas after 484 days in Gaza, discovered that a few weeks ago that his son Rotem survived the terrorist assault on October 7, 2023.
Ober Eyal’s cousin was cited by Ynet as describing the details that the Liberated captive told family members.
“He was in great uncertainty in captivity, then discovered in a media interview that his son was still alive,” said Eyal Calderon. “It is unfathomable what he went through there, but at least yesterday, he was in a very positive state.
“There is a long way to go, rehabilitation will be long and will have ups and downs. It is important that people know that yesterday’s images are misleading and do not reflect what the Orer has crossed, “he added, referring to the Calderon force watch during the Liberation ceremony Hostages from Hamas and his lively greeting of friends waiting outside the hospital.
OFER CALDERON WAVES hostage from a scene installed by the Hamas terrorist group in Khan Younis before being handed over to the Red Cross, February 1, 2025. (Screen Grab / Youtube)
“Captivity was not a walk in the park,” said Eyal Calderon. “He wins now, breathing in his children and begins to understand what he has experienced this year and a half.”
Ynet also pointed out that Calderon and Yarden Bibas, who were also released on Saturday, were held together in Khan Younis cages and tunnels at the start of their captivity and were subjected to physical and psychological abuses.
According to a report by Kan’s broadcaster, Keith Siegel, in the Israeli-American hostage, thought that his son Shai had been killed during the October 7 attack and did not know that he was alive until he ‘hears talk on the radio during the war.
The report also indicates that Siegel, which is vegetarian, was forced to eat meat and often spent days without food at all.
Released in hostage Keith Siegel finds his family at the Surasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv (Ichilov Hospital) on February 1, 2025 (Israeli Defense Forces)
The YNET report also detailed the conditions to which the five Thai hostages which were released last Thursday were subjected to captivity.
The five hostages, Pongsak thenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Seathao and Surasak Lamnau, would have told long periods of severe hunger, difficulty breathing in underground tunnels and captivity in dark rooms for days.
The five would have been held in two separate groups and learned to communicate in Arabic with their captors.
The Thai hostages that have been released from the captivity of Hamas, from left to right, Surasak Lumnau, Sathian Suwannakham, Bannawat Saethao, Watchara Sriaoun and Pongsak Thaenna Hold the Thailand Flag in Israel, January 30, 2025. (Embassy of the Royal Thai Aviv via AP)
Until now, 13 Israeli hostages have been released as part of the current agreement, which requires the release of 33 so-called “humanitarian hostages” during its first 42-day phase, with battles stopped in the band .
The five Thai hostages were released outside the Israel-Hamas Agreement.
While the 33 hostages are gradually released, Israel will release some 1,904 Palestinian security prisoners, including more than 100 serving perpetuity for fatal terrorist attacks. Ninety security prisoners were released on Saturday, nine of which are considered terrorists in the service of lifetime mandates.
