Parents of four young female Israeli hostages released from Hamas captivity have revealed distressing accounts of their daughters' treatment, including starvation, threats, and forced participation in propaganda, highlighting the psychological and physical toll of their ordeal.**
Harrowing Accounts from Freed Hamas Hostages: Parents Describe Their Daughters' Ordeal**
Harrowing Accounts from Freed Hamas Hostages: Parents Describe Their Daughters' Ordeal**
Families of released Israeli hostages share chilling details about the abuse their daughters suffered during captivity by Hamas.**
Parents of four Israeli hostages freed from Hamas captivity have come forward with heartbreaking testimonies detailing the abuse their daughters endured during their 15-month ordeal in Gaza. The women, kidnapped from the Nahal Oz army base, faced starvation, intimidation, and threats while being forced to cook and clean for their captors, who often held them in underground tunnels and various remote locations.
Orly Gilboa, mother of Daniella, described how her daughter was only provided with substantial food during the final months of her captivity, leading to significant weight loss. Daniella expressed to her mother that had she been released earlier, she would have resembled other emaciated hostages recently freed. Reports from others, including Meirav Leshem Gonen about her daughter Romi, corroborate these accounts of severe weight loss, with Romi losing 20 percent of her body weight during her time in captivity.
The psychological trauma experienced by the hostages is also profound. Gilboa recounted the horror of seeing a video that portrayed Daniella as having been killed in an Israeli military strike, a moment that caused tremendous distress for her family. The ordeal started with Hamas's mass attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in widespread casualties and unprecedented hostage situations, with over 250 individuals taken by the group.
Another parent, Shlomi Berger, spoke of the diverse conditions in which his daughter Agam was detained, varying from better to worse locations, impacting their access to food. He described the harrowing experience of torture witnessed by Agam, noting that the captors would inflict violence upon other hostages as a means of instilling fear.
Despite the brutal circumstances, the hostages managed to find ways to cope by sharing stories, drawing, and keeping diaries. This shared resilience imparted a sense of hope and a desire for a future free from captivity. After their release, the young women struggled to readjust, often overwhelmed by the physical and emotional scars left by their ordeal.
The families of these released hostages are now advocating for inquiries into the circumstances of the attack that led to the kidnappings and are calling for humanitarian measures for those still imprisoned by Hamas. Their focus remains on ensuring the safety and well-being of all hostages while navigating their daughters' challenging paths towards recovery after such traumatic experiences.
