How The Hostages Were Mistreated: The Latest Testimonies

Hugh Fitzgerald | June 14, 2024

We know that the number of Israeli hostages who are still alive in Hamas’ captivity keeps declining, for they are steadily being murdered, one by one, by their Hamas captives. Israel now believes that of the 136 Israelis who remained as captives after the hostage-for-prisoner swap in November, and the rescue of three hostages before this latest raid, no more than 80 are still alive. Hamas, of course, continues to claim that any captives who are now dead were killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes, as a way to avoid blame and to make the Israeli pilots become ever more cautious in their attacks on Hamas targets.

And we know, too, that the captives have been brutally mistreated. This was first revealed by the hostages who were released in November. Now the four hostages just rescued have their own tales of mistreatment — deliberate starvation, psychological torture (including forced readings of the Qur’an), beatings, and sexual assault. More on their stories can be found here: “Doctor Treating 4 Rescued Israeli Hostages Says They Endured ‘A Lot Of Abuse, Almost Every Day,’” by Jack Elbaum, Algemeiner, June 11, 2024:

The doctor treating the four Israeli hostages who were rescued from Gaza over the weekend said they were abused in captivity “nearly every day.”

Dr. Itai Pessach, who works for Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv and is overseeing the treatment of the four rescued hostages, told CNN their time in captivity “left a significant mark on their health” despite looking normal externally.

“There have been periods where they got almost no food whatsoever,” he said. “They had no protein, so their muscles are extremely wasted, there is damage to some other systems because of that.”

According to initial assessments by Israel’s Health Ministry, the average hostage who was released during November’s temporary ceasefire and hostage deal lost between 17 and 33 pounds in just seven weeks….

Deliberate withholding of food from the captives led to steep drops in their weight. Those who had been freed in November after just 50 days in captivity lost between 17 and 33 pounds. For the four hostages just freed, who had to endure 34 weeks in captivity, the weight loss must have been far greater, though figures have not yet been released by the Israeli doctors treating them.

The longer those Israelis were held as captives, the greater their loss of hope; they became listless and despairing.

In April, former hostages held by Hamas in Gaza recounted harrowing tales of sexual harassment and abuse in an emotional hearing at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament….

The sexual assaults went far beyond mere harassment. Female captives have described repeatedly being raped, or forced to perform fellatio, by their guards.

A family member of 12-year-old freed hostage Eitan Yahalom detailed the abuse he faced during his 52 days being held by Hamas.

Eitan Yahaloom was told that his kibbutz, and “all of Israel,” had been destroyed. Hamas allowed Palestinians, those “innocent civilians,” to beat him and the other children.

“Whenever a child hostage cried, the terrorists would threaten them with rifles to silence them,” the family member said. “Perhaps I was naïve, but I wanted to hope that they were treating him well. I was wrong. They are monsters.”

Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists abducted over 250 people during their Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. There are currently over 100 hostages still in Gaza.

No, there are no longer “100 hostages in Gaza.” The Israelis believe that while there should be about 135 hostages still alive, more than 50, according to Israelis sources, have been murdered over the last eight months. And those captives — both those still alive and those whom Hamas murdered while they were being held captive — endured starvation, sexual abuse including repeated rapes, beatings, psychological torture, including being forced to read the Qur’an, and were incessantly told they would never be freed but would die in captivity, so that they lost all hope, and many fell into complete despair.

Remember all this the next time you hear someone inveighing against those terrible Israelis for their “massacre of innocent civilians” during the hostage rescue raid.