Israeli media reveals first details of Gaza hostage captivity – Israel News

The three women released from captivity by Hamas shared their first accounts of their captivity with the media on Sunday.

Doron Steinbrecher, Romi Gonen and Emily Damari said they were initially detained together, but were later separated. They revealed that they were only informed of their release on Sunday morning: “We couldn’t believe it when we were told that we were going to return home.”

According to their testimonies, they were sometimes housed in humanitarian shelters intended for displaced people from Gaza.

Although the women sometimes received medical help or medication, they spent long periods without daylight, confined to underground spaces, N12 added.

One of the women underwent a medical procedure without anesthesia. She told the interviewer that she thought she would die in Gaza.

The women said they spent 15 months cooking and supporting each other.

They also added that throughout their 471 days in Gaza, they were exposed to television and radio broadcasts and were able to follow their families’ struggles for their liberation.

“We have seen your struggle; we heard our families fighting for us,” they said.

This means they also learned about the October 7 massacre.

One of the women told N12: “We realized that our families had survived, but we discovered that we had lost many friends. »

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Last moments in captivity

They also spoke of their terror during the last moments of their captivity, when they were transferred to the Red Cross. “We were terrified when the terrorists passed into the hands of the Red Cross,” they said, mentioning being surrounded by the hostile crowds in Gaza.

The testimony also revealed new details about Emily Damari’s time in captivity. Emily spent a lot of time with Romi Gonen, being transferred together dozens of times between various hideouts, both above and below ground.

Romi, a trained doctor, provided essential medical care to Emily’s injuries, including the two fingers she lost from a bullet during the October 7 massacre and a leg injury.