Status: 18.10.2025 18:32

There was great jubilation when the last living Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip were released. Little by little, the public is learning details about their captivity. It is the beginning of a long process of coming to terms with the situation.

When Eitan Horn returns to his house a few days after his release from the terrorist organization Hamas, people surround the car, chanting his name. The 39-year-old is noticeably thinner. But in this moment, he simply seems happy.

"I'm fine, I'm home. I always believed I was coming home, and I owe that to the entire people of Israel. I'm here only because of the people."

Hunger and psychological terror

Horn appears outwardly cheerful, while other hostages released after two years of captivity are in a significantly worse state. For example, Rom Braslavski, who appears broken. The German-Israeli was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival and held captive for two years by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

He was alone the entire time. He was given only the bare minimum to eat. The jihadists wanted to force him to convert to Islam, which he refused. And he was repeatedly subjected to psychological pressure, reports his mother, Tami Braslavski."They told him there was nowhere he could go back. They said that Iran had bombed Israel and almost completely destroyed it. That 3,000 soldiers had been killed in the process."

Idit Ohel reports on her son Alon, who was seriously injured in the eye by shrapnel during the Hamas terrorist attack on the Nova music festival and then kidnapped.

He too was subjected to psychological terror, given only the bare minimum for food, and confined to dark tunnels. The medical treatment he received while he was held hostage was only minimal."During his captivity, he was carelessly stitched while the shrapnel was still embedded in his body." This caused Alon to suffer headaches.

Torture shortly before release

Apparently, Hamas henchmen tortured their hostages even shortly before their release. Avi Ohana, the father of Yosef-Chaim Ohana, who was kidnapped for two years, reports what his son told him. According to him, he was taken to a new tunnel with other hostages immediately before his release:

"They put them in a pit so small that the seven men couldn't even sit for several days. They had to stand, leaning against the wall. There was so little oxygen that one could have died because of it."

The physical condition of the released hostages varies greatly. In any case, the men's physical and psychological rehabilitation is likely to take a long time. The trauma of being held hostage is likely to stay with them for a long time. It will not be easy to return to normal life after these horrific experiences.

Former hostage Bar Kuperstein is audibly upset during a conversation with Defense Minister Israel Katz:"I'm trying to cope with everything. I still find it hard to accept that I find so much good around me after all the chaos I experienced there. I still don't fully understand what's happening to me."