Former Hamas hostages speak out for first time since release

Former Hamas hostages broke the silence describing the conditions of their detention and calling for the release of other hostages.

Former hostages in the Gaza Strip spoke publicly this Saturday, December 2, urging Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to free the people still held captive in the Palestinian territory by the Islamist movement Hamas.

The hostages, who were freed as part of a seven-day ceasefire that expired Friday, spoke via video broadcast to a crowd of thousands at a rally in Tel Aviv.

Fear and hunger

In brief interviews, the four women spoke of their fear, hunger and sleeplessness in captivity after being abducted during an unprecedented October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli soil that sparked the war.

“Our daughters saw things that people of this age or any age shouldn’t see,” Danielle Aloni, 45, posted on Nov. 24 with her five-year-old daughter.

“There wasn’t a lot of food, and as time went on, it got less,” said Titza Heyman, 84, who was released on Tuesday.

The freed hostages urged Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to take all necessary steps to free the hostages.

Bringing hostages back is a “moral duty”

“The moral obligation of this government is to bring them home immediately without hesitation,” said Yocheved Lifschitz, 85, who was released in October.

The broadcast of the testimony comes a day after the end of a seven-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which allowed the release of 80 Israeli hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Israeli bombardments resumed on Friday in the Gaza Strip, from where Hamas rockets were fired into Israeli soil.

“We have to bring back my Sasha and the other prisoners,” Elina Trubanov, a hostage who was freed on Wednesday, said during a rally in Tel Aviv, noting that her son was still a hostage.

The families want to put even more pressure on the authorities for the release of their loved ones since the Israeli military confirmed the deaths of five hostages on Friday.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Saturday that 137 Israelis and foreigners were still being held captive in the Palestinian territory, which Israel is under “total siege” after a 16-year blockade and that humanitarian needs were enormous.