Israeli Hostages' Accounts of Abuse Raise Alarms for Remaining Captives

New York Times

10-02-2025

Bound. Starved. Wounded. Tortured. These are the conditions that some hostages being held in Gaza still face, according to information their families said they had received from Israeli military and security officials after Hamas released three captives on Saturday as part of a cease-fire agreement.
The emaciated appearance of three hostages released in a ceremony in Gaza staged by Hamas last weekend — Eli Sharabi, 52; Or Levy, 34; and Ohad Ben-Ami, 56 — and the details of their captivity have relatives of the remaining captives sounding the alarm about the urgent need for the continuation of the phased cease-fire deal. The urgency comes as the militant group said on Monday it would indefinitely postpone the next hostage releases, set for Saturday, citing Israeli cease-fire violations.
Before they were handed over to Red Cross officials in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, the frail, painfully thin hostages were paraded onstage before a crowd in the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza, each holding a Hamas-issued 'release certificate,' and made to recite words written for them — including thanks to the militants who had held them for 16 months.
A doctor in charge of overseeing the treatment of two of the freed Israeli hostages later said they were in poor condition. The third was in a 'severe nutritional state,' according to an official at the hospital where he was being treated.
Hamas has said it treats its captives benevolently.
Under the first phases of the cease-fire deal, the armed Palestinian group agreed to free 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight who were killed, in exchange for about 1,500 Palestinian prisoners. So far, about half of those exchanges have been carried out.
Hamas on Saturday denounced 'the brutal treatment of our prisoners' by Israeli officials. 'This includes ongoing assaults, torture, and disregard for age or the severe health conditions suffered by many prisoners,' it said in a statement, highlighting what it said was the difference in treatment between the hostages and the prisoners.
Idit Ohel, whose son Alon Ohel turned 24 on Monday and was spending his second birthday in captivity in Gaza, told reporters at a news briefing that she had learned from military sources who had spoken with the most recently released hostages that her son was receiving very little food and no medical care for multiple injuries, including an eye injury that has left him partially blinded.
Mr. Ohel, who was captured at the Nova Music Festival during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, has been held bound for much of the time and was tortured, she said she had learned from Israeli military officials. 'It was not easy to hear,' Ms. Ohel said. 'I must say that I even fainted.'
'I don't think there's a mother in this world that would even be able to sleep,' knowing their child was enduring such suffering, she added.
Similarly, Sigi Cohen, the mother of another hostage, Eliya Cohen, who was 26 when captured, said by phone on Monday that she had learned from Israeli security forces that her son — who was shot in the leg during the 2023 attack on Israel — has also not received treatment for his injuries.
Her son reportedly sees almost no sunshine and has been bound throughout most of his nearly 500 days in captivity, she added.
The New York Times could not independently confirm the information. A spokesman for the Israeli military, reached by phone, declined to comment on Monday, citing the sensitivity of the topic.
The recently freed hostages' reports about what they and others have endured align with the accounts of some of other captives freed since the first phase of the cease-fire agreement went into effect last month.
And Dr. Hagai Levine, who leads the medical team for the Hostage Family Forum, an umbrella group, told reporters on Monday that the hostages had been 'starved' and endured 'intentional torture,' and that many had returned home with infections that could become a threat, as well as emotional damage.
'The findings are clear and deeply alarming,' he said. 'They are subject to deliberate starvation and severe water deprivation' and 'are undergoing extreme physical and emotional abuse.'
'There is a clear and present danger to all of the hostages' lives,' Dr. Levine added. He said that any delay in the release of hostages would 'probably cost lives.'
The relatives of some of those recently released have also described details of the hostages' experiences — and the dire state they are in now.
'Yesterday, my brother Or returned to us after 491 days of hell,' Michael Levy said in a statement on Sunday. His bother had been held in Hamas tunnels and returned to Israel a shadow of the man he once was, his brother said.
'I hugged him, but he wasn't the same Or who left home on October 7th,' Mr. Levy said, noting that his brother had returned 'in poor physical condition and spent 16 months 'hungry, barefoot and in constant fear' that every day could be his last.
But the 'hardest blow' came on Saturday, he said, when his brother learned that his wife, Einav Levy, had not survived the attack at the Nova music festival.
The latest details about the conditions under which some of the hostages were held came as the fragile truce appeared to be fraying.
Ofer Calderon, who was released earlier this month, said in a statement on Monday, 'I was held in tunnels without seeing daylight, had no access to media, experienced severe hunger conditions, went entire months without showering or receiving proper care.'
He called for a continuation of the cease-fire and noted that after the first temporary deal of the war was struck between Israel and Hamas, in November 2023, the conditions during his and other hostages' captivity had 'severely deteriorated and became brutal.'
'We must not stop the current deal and must continue working to free all the hostages.' Mr. Calderon said. 'Hamas is a cruel enemy who will not hesitate to harm the hostages left behind.'