FACT SHEETS
Fact Sheet: Recently released hostages reveal stories of horrific mistreatment
Mar 4, 2025 | Alana Schetzer
On October 7, 2023, while thousands of Hamas terrorists raped, tortured and brutally murdered more than 1,200 men, women, and children across southern Israel, another 251 people – including a baby and a Holocaust survivor – were kidnapped and taken into Gaza.
As of Feb. 26, 2025, 147 hostages have either been released through two ceasefire deals or rescued alive by the IDF. An additional 47 deceased hostages have been recovered. Fifty-nine hostages remain in captivity. According to Israeli assessments, of the 59, 35 have been killed, while 24 are thought to still be alive.
Many details of what the hostages went through are yet to be revealed; families have reported that their loved ones are not ready to talk, some are mentally unresponsive, plus there remain concerns for the safety of the remaining hostages who are still alive in Gaza if certain details are disclosed publicly.
However, we are aware of some details, through video evidence, eyewitness accounts, and increasingly, from hostage survivors themselves or their families. Some of the most disturbing experiences hostages went through included:
- Sexual violence, including rape and sexual assault at gunpoint
- Severe physical beatings
- Physical brandings
- Starvation and deprivation of water
- Being refused proper medical treatment for gunshot injuries
- Having a bullet wound operated on without anaesthesia
- Being kept in cages
- Kept in tunnels too small to stand up in, and never seeing sunlight
- Solitary confinement
- Witnessing other hostages being murdered
- Being kept in cages for almost their entire captivity, losing the ability to walk
Emily Damari, 28, Romi Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31
Released Jan. 19, 2025 (471 days in captivity)
- Gonen was kidnapped from the Nova music festival. Damari and Steinbrecher were kidnapped from their homes in Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
- Forced to spend almost their entire time in tunnels, rarely saw daylight.
- Damari said, “I didn’t think I’d return; I was certain that I’d die in Gaza.”
- Damari lost two fingers and suffered a leg injury during the October 7 massacre.
- She also said she was denied medical treatment and was held in UNRWA facilities.
- They described their time in captivity as terrifying and were “scared to death” during their transfer to the Red Cross.
- Gonen’s mother said her daughter had spoken very little of what had happened to her so far, but that her skin was grey when she returned. She said her daughter had been starved multiple times and had lost 20% of her weight.
- Gonen was shot in the right arm, an injury for which she didn’t receive proper treatment. She was left with “an open wound where she could see the bone” and can no longer use her right hand.
- Gonen and Steinbrecher were kept together in small spaces without toilets, sunlight, or running water. They were only allowed to bathe occasionally using a cup of water.
Liri Albag, 19, Karina Ariev, 20, Daniella Gilboa, 20, and Naama Levy, 20
Released Jan. 25, 2025 (477 days in captivity)
- The women were reported to have been kept in tunnels for up to eight months, deprived of sunlight, and refused medical treatment for injuries sustained when they were kidnapped.
- They were only allowed to shower, change their clothes and eat better food in the lead-up to their release.
- Gilboa’s mother said:
- Her daughter Daniella and other released female hostages were given more food in the lead-up to their release to make them gain weight.
- Her daughter watched the release of fellow hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben-Ami – who appeared extremely thin and fragile – and noted, “If I had been released two months ago I would have probably looked like them.”
- Her daughter was forced to fake her own death in a propaganda video, with plaster poured on her, to make it look like she was a victim of an Israeli airstrike.
Agam Berger, 20, Arbel Yehud, 29, and Gadi Moshe Moses, 80
Released Jan. 30, 2025 (482 days in captivity)
- Berger’s father said his daughter and three other female hostages were abused, starved, intimidated, threatened by armed men, and forced to cook and clean.
- They were held captive in tunnels and various buildings, rarely seeing sunlight.
- They witnessed other hostages being physically abused.
- They were forced to participate in Hamas propaganda videos.
- Their access to food varied; in the lead-up to their release, they were given much larger portions to ‘fatten’ them up.
- Berger’s father said the hostages were watched all the time by armed men “playing all the time with their guns and their hand grenades.”
Thai nationals Pongsak Thenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Sriaoun Watchara, Bannawat Seathao, and Surasak Rumnao
Released Jan. 30, 2025 (482 days in captivity)
- One of the hostages’ teeth were smashed in by Hamas during captivity.
- Thenna said he and fellow Thai hostage Bannawat Seathao were confined together. “We were locked in a room the entire time, never went outside, didn’t see sunlight and didn’t see stars.”
- The five former hostages spent ten days in hospital for medical treatment and observation following their release.
Yarden Bibas, 35, Keith Siegel, 65, and Ofer Kalderon, 54
Released Feb. 1, 2025 (484 days in captivity)
- Bibas was wounded during his kidnapping at Kibbutz Nir Oz
- Bibas was emotionally tortured by his captors who constantly talked about the fate of his wife and two young children (who were kidnapped and kept separately before being murdered in November 2023).
- Bibas was also physically abused and held in a cage.
- Kalderon revealed that he lost 25kg while in captivity.
- He was kept in a cage and subjected to physical and mental abuse.
- He was fed rotten vegetables and only allowed to shower every two or three months.
- Siegel said he was starved and tortured physically and mentally, and the abuse intensified as the war continued.
- He had no access to sunlight and was forced to write thank-you notes to his captors before his release.
Ohad Ben-Ami, 56, Eli Sharabi, 52, and Or Levy, 34
Released Feb. 8, 2025 (491 days in captivity)
- All three men suffered extreme physical and psychological abuse by Hamas terrorists.
- All three were severely malnourished and significantly underweight.
- Levy told his family, “I was bound in a dark tunnel, without air, without light. I couldn’t stand or walk, and only toward the time of the release did the terrorists remove the chains and I learned to walk again.”
- Ben-Ami said six hostages were kept in “terrible conditions” in just six square metres.
- They were not allowed to wear shoes and could only shower every couple of months.
- They underwent military-style interrogations even though they were not soldiers.
Yair Horn, 46, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, and Sasha (Alexander) Trufanov, 29
Released Feb. 15, 2025 (498 days in captivity)
- All three were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
- Dekel-Chen was shot in the shoulder on October 7 and was tortured during interrogations by his Hamas captors, leaving him with visible scars.
Ariel Bibas, 5, Kfir Bibas, 2, Shiri Silberman Bibas, 33, and Oded Lifshitz, 84
Bodies returned on Feb. 20, 2025
- Their coffins were locked and the keys Hamas had provided did not open the locks.
- Propaganda material was put inside their coffins.
- Israeli forensic experts confirmed that Ariel and Kfir were murdered soon after they were abducted.
- The body initially claimed to be that of Shiri was that of an unknown woman – neither Shiri nor any other hostage. Shiri’s actual body was released the following day, only after Israel revealed the initial body was not hers.
- Forensic experts say Shiri was also murdered by her captors, with Israeli reports suggesting she was murdered just before her children, who were likely forced to watch.
Avera Mengistu, 38, and Hisham al-Sayed, 36
Released Feb. 25, 2025
- Both were held hostage for more than ten years, after voluntarily entering Gaza while experiencing mental illness.
- Mengistu spent 3,821 days in captivity. Al-Sayed spent 3,596 days in captivity.
- Both families described them as ‘largely unresponsive’ upon their release.
- Mengistu’s family said he endured “unimaginable suffering” during captivity.
- Reports are that Mengistu was in a bad way psychologically and barely communicating.
- Al-Sayed’s father, who said he was shocked by the state of his son’s physical and mental state, added that his son was “destroyed, emotionally and cognitively.”
- “His mental condition is in a bad state, he doesn’t communicate, and he looks like he was in a torture camp for ten years. We didn’t think to ourselves that Hamas would be so cruel,” his father explained.
Tal Shoham, 39, Omer Shem Tov, 22, Omer Wenkert, 23 and Eliya Cohen, 27
Released Feb. 25, 2025 (505 days in captivity)
- All reported that they were kept chained in the dark, starved and psychologically abused in Gaza.
- Shem Tov’s father said his son was kept with fellow hostage Itay Regev for the first 50 days, and then was kept in solitary confinement for the rest of his time in captivity.
- He added that his son never saw sunlight during his entire time in captivity and that he had lost between 16-17 kg.
- He was initially kept in apartments before being moved to tunnels.
- He was forced to dress like a Muslim woman, his hands were bound, and he was cursed and spat at.
- He said his son was forced to wave to the crowd and kiss the Hamas guard at the ‘release ceremony’.
- Cohen’s family said he and fellow hostages Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, and Alon Ohel – who is still a hostage – were chained by their hands and feet, causing open cuts. They were also physically abused by their captors.
- For months, the four men were not allowed to walk and couldn’t stand. They were also starved while their captors ate in front of them.
- Cohen was shot in the leg and severely beaten during his kidnapping and didn’t receive proper medical care, being operated on without anaesthesia.
- Wenkert lost 30kg during his captivity. He suffers from colitis and was denied medication.
- Wenkert and Shoham were reportedly kept in extremely humid tunnels. “All the seasons felt the same,” they said, with no difference between winter and summer.
- Both were starved throughout their captivity but were ‘fattened up’ in the lead-up to their release.
Israelis still held captive
- Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal were kept inside a vehicle and forced to watch fellow hostages Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen and Omer Wenkert being paraded on a stage in front of hundreds of Hamas terrorists for their ‘release ceremony’, before being returned to captivity.
