'We were treated like animals': Freed Israeli hostages reveal Hamas abuse

Freed Israeli hostages recount brutal captivity under Hamas, describing starvation, torture, and emotional trauma

Israel and Hamas carried out their fifth exchange of hostages and prisoners on Saturday as part of the ceasefire agreement that has temporarily halted the 16-month conflict in Gaza.

 

Hamas released three Israeli civilian hostages, while Israel freed 183 Palestinian prisoners. This latest swap brings the total to 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners exchanged since the ceasefire began on January 19.

 

Freed hostages confront harsh realities  

 

The Israeli hostages released on Saturday are now confronting the painful realities of their captivity and loss.  

 

Eli Sharabi, held for 16 months, returned home only to learn that his wife and two daughters had been killed in the October 7 attack, according to Israeli media reports.

 

 

Or Levy’s mother, Geula, revealed that her son “was not sure” about the fate of his wife, as he had no access to news while in captivity. Levy, taken from a bomb shelter near the Nova music festival, discovered upon release that his wife, Einav, had been killed. He also inquired about Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who was later killed in captivity. Levy was reunited with his three-year-old son on Saturday.

 

Another released hostage, Ohad Ben Ami, sat with his wife and three daughters in a hospital corridor. “I have a lot of things to catch up on,” he told them, as reported by the Associated Press. A resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities on October 7, Ben Ami said he needed to understand what had happened. “I need to get answers to a lot of things, and I know some of them will be difficult answers,” he added in footage released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office.

 

Accounts of abuse and torture  

 

Male hostages were held in captivity for nearly 500 days under brutal conditions that left many unable to walk upon release. Survivors reported being starved, tortured, and confined in spaces too small to stand.

 

“They treated us like animals,” one hostage said after being freed.

 

According to a Daily Mail report, captives described being hung upside down, tied with rope, gagged, and burned. Food was scarce, with some receiving only pieces of rotten pita bread after prolonged periods without nourishment.

 

Or Levy, 34, who was released alongside Eli Sharabi, 54, and Ohad Ben Ami, 56, recalled: “I was bound in chains — towards the release, I learned to walk.”

 

For 491 days, the men endured interrogations and physical abuse. Israeli broadcaster Kan 11 reported: “It is impossible to process the things we are about to reveal now. The three were deliberately starved, going for long days without any food at all.”

 

Sharabi, already suffering immense personal loss, was reportedly mocked by his captors during the handover, as they forced him to say he was eager to see his family — unaware they had been killed.

 

At Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, Levy’s brother, Michael, described their emotional reunion after 16 months apart. “I hugged him, but he wasn’t the same Or who left home on October 7.” He added that his brother was in such deteriorated physical condition that “without a shadow of a doubt, he wouldn’t have survived for another two, three weeks, or a month in captivity.”

 

Israeli sources claim Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israel last October, directed the abuse of hostages.

 

Conflict’s toll and political tensions  

 

As many as 76 hostages remain in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in about 1,200 deaths — mostly civilians — and sparked the ongoing war. Among the Palestinian prisoners released by Israel were 111 from Gaza who had been detained without trial after the attack.

 

According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military response, with over half reported to be women and children. The ministry does not specify how many of the casualties were militants.

 

Political tensions have also surfaced amid the ceasefire. Concerns have been raised that former US President Donald Trump’s suggestion to relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza could jeopardise the truce.

 

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced backlash from Arab leaders after a controversial remark during an interview on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14. When an interviewer mistakenly said “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state,” Netanyahu responded: “A Palestinian state. Unless you want the Palestinian state to be in Saudi Arabia, they have a lot of territory.”

 

The Arab League condemned the remark, calling it “a complete detachment from reality.”