Latest news with #KibbutzBeeri


Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Daily Mail
Dragged away to Hell: Terrifying new October 7 footage shows kidnapped Israeli led through Gaza by Hamas terrorists as baying mob tries to lynch him... before being starved and tortured for 491 days
This is the terrifying new October 7 footage that shows a kidnapped Israeli hostage being dragged through Gaza by armed Hamas terrorists as a baying mob tries to lynch him. Ohad Ben Ami, a father of three daughters from Kibbutz Be'eri, was held captive for 491 days in a tunnel in Gaza where he was deliberately starved and endured severe physical and psychological torture. It has since been revealed that once he was underground, terrorists subjected Ben Ami to barbaric conditions: they hung him upside down by his feet, throttled him with rope, and held him in a dark tunnel so tiny he had to learn to walk again. The horrifying new video shows the then-55 year old seeing daylight for what would be the last time for over a year, as he is manhandled through narrow streets by Hamas gunmen as crowds of shouting civilian men swarm towards him. In more footage made public by the IDF for the first time, Hamas terrorists are seen returning to Kibbutz Be'eri to capture Ben Ami's wife, Raz, and kidnap her to the Strip. A crowd of plain-clothed terrorists escort the mother, wearing a black and white dress, on foot through the border fence, where she was then forced to spend the next 54 days confined in Hamas captivity in Gaza's tunnel network. The shocking video shows the final moments before Ben Ami was trapped 30 metres (100 feet) underground in a space measuring only six square metres (65 square feet) with six other hostages for almost 500 days. 'We received food twice a day that amounted to 700 calories at best,' the accountant said after his release, describing how Hamas subjected the hostages to deliberate starvation by giving them only a rotten pita every few days. 'Most of our time was spent trying to guess what we would get to eat, when it would happen, whether we would get a whole pita for each person or just half, whether there would also be a cup of rice, [and] whether we got leftovers from our captors,' he told the Jerusalem Post. The hostages were trapped between concrete 'without air to breathe', he recalled, describing the dire conditions of captivity. 'We slept close together on a thin, damp, and wet mattress, with the same blanket that had been used as a sheet for over a year. 'Insects in the tunnel would get into our noses, mouths, ears, and everywhere else possible.' He and his cell mates were only allowed to shower once every few weeks in 'cold, salty water', and they each wore the same set of clothes the entire time. Illness was rampant underground, and spread quickly between the hostages, with diarrhea and an upset stomach being common among them due to a lack of medicine. 'When someone is sick, everyone is sick. Everything was contagious and exhausting because we lost fluids, and there were several cases where we lost consciousness due to high fever.' Ben Ami and fellow Israeli hostages Or Levy and Eli Sharabi were together subjected to extreme physical torture underground. Israel was distraught to discover how the trio were choked, bound, gagged with cloth to the point of suffocation, hung upside down, and burned with a physical object by their captors in Gaza, reported Haaretz. The hostages were also psychologically taunted by Hamas operatives, who would eat food in front of them, force them to pick which hostages ate and who starved, and even demanded they choose who among their fellow captives who should be killed. Quoted in the Times of Israel, Ben Ami described the sadistic games Hamas would play on the hostages: 'A commander, probably a senior one, came to us and cocked his gun, and said: "Choose three people to die and three people who I will shoot in the kneecap." 'They made us decide which three should take a bullet to the head, and which three a bullet to the knee. 'We had to debate this for an entire hour, all while they filmed us. They let each of us speak and explain why we deserved to live, why we deserved to die, or why we deserved to be shot in the knee.' When the men failed to volunteer themselves or select any fellow captives for death, Hamas operatives would give them the chance to be pardoned - by forcing them to speak badly about the Israeli government. The terrorists would show the hostages statements from Israeli politicians and reports of efforts to sabotage the deal, taunting them with phrases like: 'They don't want to free you' or 'This is how they treat you.' After 51 grueling days in captivity, Ben Ami's wife, Raz, was set free in November 2023. It wasn't until February 2025 that Ben-Ami, 56, Levy, 34, and Sharabi, 52, were released, shocking the world with their emaciated bodies. Health officials took to Hebrew media to report how the three men had suffered malnutrition, decreased muscle mass, heart disorders, and prolonged infection. On October 7, armed Hamas terrorists killed 101 civilians and 31 security personnel during the massacre at Kibbutz Be'eri. A further 30 residents and two more civilians were taken hostage. Ben Ami and his wife have three daughters: Yulie, Natalie, and Ella. On seeing her father for the first time in 491 days, Ella said nothing could have prepared her for seeing the gaunt look of his face and body. 'What you all saw yesterday on TV, the difficult sight that makes you want to throw the TV to the ground, that's my father. He endured horrors. We haven't even begun to hear in-depth about the hell he was in,' reported Haaretz 'My father survived as a hero and returned with his head held high,' she said. Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others in an attack on October 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. They still hold 50 hostages, around 20 of them believed to be alive. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.


CBS News
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Israeli producer uses arts to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about Middle East
Israeli producer uses arts to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about Middle East Israeli producer uses arts to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about Middle East Israeli producer uses arts to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about Middle East An Israeli producer is using an immersive play to help Coloradans have meaningful conversations about conflicts in the Middle East. Ami Dayan has been doing theater for a long time. "Oh, about after 'The Big Bang,' I started kind of practicing it," said Dayan. Born and raised in Israel, he left his country and family behind to come to Colorado twenty-six years ago. A rocket propelled grenade impact strike marks the wall of a bomb shelter in Kibbutz Be'eri, the scene of an attack by Hamas militants which killed 120 people, close to Gaza in southern Israel, in this photo from Oct. 20, 2023. OLIVER MARSDEN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images The conflict between Israel and Palestine has always been a part of his life, but he noticed that people in the United States had a hard time talking civilly about the issue. "Israel and Palestine seems to be the forbidden conversation," said Dayan. He says after the terrorist attacks on October 7th, 2023, he noticed people started talking about it in a way he had never heard before. "The whole thing is coming bubbling up, and people are reconsidering the positions like they haven't. I think for a very long time," said Dayan. So, he decided to use his background and professional experience to try to help his community talk about this sensitive issue. Ami Dayan He created "Conversation: Israeli Palestinian Conflict," an immersive theater experience. It's a play where prominent Israeli and Palestinian figures came together for what audience members thought was a panel about the topic. In reality, it was all theater, including questions from the audience, which were pre-scripted and asked by actors. That way, audience members on all sides of the issue can both feel heard and have their beliefs challenged. "People think that they are misunderstood. And the other side doesn't get any of what they see as reality. And the truth is, nobody knows. Both sides are right. Both sides are wrong," said Dayan. It wasn't until the show was over that audience members were let in on the secret. "A lot of audience members don't grasp until the curtain falls that the four volunteers that actually spoke are actors. They thought that they were just members of the audience that got up there," said Dayan. Ami said that it presented some challenges for the actors. "Sometimes somebody is in the middle of the soliloquy and somebody in the audience responds, yeah, and it gets interesting," said Dayan. CBS "Conversations" ran from May 22nd through 31st at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder. It tragically fell between the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., and the terrorist attack on Jewish marchers on the Pearl Street Mall. Ami said they want to make sure the play is as up-to-date as possible, so they discussed the shooting of the staffers and if he were to do it again, he would include the attack in his hometown. "Not only the event, but also the main conversation following it, which is really about the difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism," said Ami. He knows that may be an unpopular decision, but he thinks it's necessary "People say this is not the time to have the conversation. It's too fragile, right now. It's too sensitive right now. I think that if we don't have the conversation, all we're doing is locking ourselves in our own beliefs, in our own understanding of reality and making extremism more and more likely to erupt," said Dayan. Ami said he knows he isn't going to solve the decades-old dispute with just one play, but he thinks we must start somewhere. "We certainly cannot fix anything. We can talk about it, and that's what we're trying to do," said Dayan.


Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Caitlyn Jenner's private texts to her children revealed as she guzzles wine in Israel bunker amid Iran missile strike
Caitlyn Jenner was drinking wine and texting members of her family while bombs rained down near her Tel Aviv hotel on Friday night, the Daily Mail can reveal. As Iran pounded Israel with ballistic missiles in a counterstrike, the 75-year-old former Olympian told loved ones that she is taking every precaution to stay safe. 'Please pray,' the former Olympian texted one family member from a secure area. 'I'm holding up okay.' When asked if the bombs were loud, Jenner merely responded 'yes.' The family member told the Daily Mail that Jenner had phone service throughout the first wave of the attack and handed situation calmly. She even posed for a photo holding a glass of red wine with influencer Regev Gur. Jenner was in Tel Aviv to headline Friday's Pride parade, and posted photos of herself in some of the region's most iconic spots: Kibbutz Be'eri, the Nova Festival site, and Jerusalem 's Western Wall. In her posts, Jenner expressed support for the country. 'I am excited to share that I will be in Israel this week,' she wrote 'I'm visiting the resilient people of Israel as the nation continues to recover and restore its place in the Middle East. Stay tuned!' 'My heart is here, with the beautiful people, in Israel,' she wrote on another post. Members of Jenner's inner circle say that she had been looking forward to the trip for weeks. 'She was very excited to be there for the parade,' says the family member. 'This was a bucket list item. It was supposed to be a great time.' But the night before the parade, Israel carried out a military strike against Iran, targeting nuclear sites. Organizers cancelled the parade out of safety concerns, but Jenner ended up stranded in the country as airports shut down. On Friday evening, Iran returned fire, raining bombs down across the country, including in Tel Aviv, where Jenner has been staying. Buildings were destroyed and dozens were wounded as some of the missiles broke through Israel's Iron Dome air defense system. Extraordinary photos showed Iranian rockets being intercepted above Tel Aviv skyscrapers as air raid sirens wailed through the streets. 'She told us not to worry,' a family member tells the Daily Mail. 'She says she'll be fine and that Israel will protect her.' Jenner has been in contact with the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, who advised her to shelter in a windowless area near her hotel. As the bombs began to drop, Jenner posted an image of the missile defense system lighting up the skies on social media. ''Quiet' night in Tel Aviv. Pray for us all. We will prevail,' the post read. 'I am happy to stand with Israel today, now more than ever.' A post shared on social media showed Jenner drinking wine with social media influencer Regev Gur, in what looked like a bomb shelter. 'And what did you do during the sirens?' the influencer captioned the post, 'because I'm drinking wine with Caitlyn.'