“ I do not know how he survived ”, explains the niece of Israeli Freed hostage

While he was held hostage by Hamas for 15 months in Gaza, Gadi Moses, 80, mainly ate a piece of bread and an olive twice a day, said his niece Efrat Machikawa.

“I don’t know how he survived,” she said to the BBC. “He lost so much weight.”

He was given a small bowl of water to wash every five days and had to ask to use the toilet, she said. He moved frequently and was mainly alone, with Ms. Machikawa saying “loneliness is another form of torture”.

He calculated mathematics problems in his head to distract himself and walked up to 11 km (six miles) per day in a room, measuring the distance, she added.

“Even in the darkest moments, he knew how to get up in a way,” she said. “The hope of meeting with the family and worrying about us was the greatest power, was the only nutrition he had for his soul.”

Gadi was one of the 18 hostages released so far this year as part of a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, in exchange for 583 Palestinian prisoners.

The ceasefire aims to finish 15 months of war in Gaza, after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

The military campaign of Israel in response killed more than 47,000 people in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

Now, while hostages are more than a year old in captivity, the details of their conditions emerge. Limited food accounts, without fresh vegetables, are similar to the conditions reported by gas during the war.

Two former members of the hostage family told the BBC that they had returned thinner.

“We are all very, very excited to have Keith at home, but very worried about seeing the state in which he returned to us,” said Tal Wax, the niece of the 65-year-old American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, who was released on Saturday, said.

“Although we can see that he is able to walk and speak, we see that he has lost a lot of weight,” she said.

She heard her cousins ​​and Mr. Siegel’s wife, Aviva, “he had to endure many horrible situations in captivity while remaining the right person.”

He’s still vegan, she added.

“Keith is very human and he wanted to tell us that he was always the same person … Even after all that he lived … He is always up to his convictions,” she said .

“This is only the start of his rehabilitation. We have a long way in front of us.”

Ms. Machikawa said that even her uncle’s release was a “terrifying” experience.

While the crowds surrounded him in Gaza on Thursday, he thought it was the “end of his life,” she said.

After her return to Israel, she was able to sleep for five hours for the first time since her capture.

“I have the impression that my tension is based slowly,” she said.

Friday, she ran to kiss her uncle in the hospital, where he gave her “the strongest and most powerful hug”, and she let out a “spark of tears of relief and love”.

“We understand that the uncle we know is the same that we know but even more,” she said, while he was talking about rehabilitation and being strong, and dreaming of returning to his fields, where he is an agricultural expert.

“Unity and family and devote themselves to justice and a good cause are more important than anything, because I have stopped my life on October 7,” she said.

She thanked Qatar and the United States for mediating the agreement and “courageous” workers from the Red Cross who have facilitated the outings.

“The joy is incredible,” she said, but she has mixed feelings until each hostage is back. She said that “we have to eradicate terror” and “Israel must secure its borders and work for a better district and region”.

“We will always try to be better, to be like Gadi, to be the one who connects even in the worst moments and gives the hand for the luck of a better life with everyone around us.”

Few hostages released so far this year have spoken publicly about their experiences.

On Saturday, Doron Steinbrecher, who was released two weeks ago, published a video statement.

“It will take time and it is a process-it will not end in a week or two, but I’m here thanks to you, and I’m fine,” she said.

“I understand that everyone knows me about this terrible recording” they caught me, they caught me, they caught me “or as a blonde girl wearing pink,” she said. “But I am no longer blonde, and I will not wear rose anymore. I am Doron, 31 years old. I am no longer captive of Hamas and I am at home.”

For families with beings still in captivity, “you are not alone” and “we continue to fight for you,” she added.

This includes the Bibas family, who welcomed back Yarden on Saturday, but not his wife, Shiri, and two grandchildren, Ariel and Kfir, who were also hostage.

Hamas had previously declared that they had been killed in an Israeli air strike at the start of the war – but they were named in A hostage list He said in January that he was ready to release.

“A quarter of our hearts came back to us after 15 long months,” the Bibas family said in a statement. “Yarden returned home, but the house remains incomplete.”

Israeli president Isaac Herzog said his country had been “deeply concerned” by their fate.

15 other hostages and approximately 1,300 Palestinian prisoners should still be released in the first six weeks of the ceasefire, which began on January 19.