Revealed: The Harrowing Captivity of Israeli Hostages in Gaza - Survivors Describe Cages, Starvation and Psychological Torture

Hamas released all 20 remaining live hostages as part of a US-mediated ceasefire agreement with Israel.

Israel:

Family members of the final Israeli hostages freed from Gaza following two years in captivity have revealed that their relatives experienced horrific conditions, with reports of some being confined in cages, pits, and underground tunnels.

Last week, Hamas released all 20 surviving hostages in accordance with a US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel.

Among those released was Omri Miran.

"Initially, five hostages were kept in a cage measuring 1.8 metres by 1.6 metres," his brother Boaz Miran told Israel Hayom newspaper.

"It was impossible to stand upright inside; you had to bend over."

Another hostage, Guy Gilboa Dalal, was 24 when abducted during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war.

He was held captive by Palestinian militants alongside his childhood friend, Evyatar David.

In August, Hamas published a propaganda video showing David severely malnourished and visibly weakened, digging his own grave inside a tunnel.

"We've all seen the video of Evyatar David in captivity — he was reduced to skin and bones," said Guy Gilboa Dalal's brother, Gal.

"Guy was in exactly the same condition," he told AFP.

"Hamas deliberately starved them to turn them into visible examples of hunger," he said, referencing food scarcity resulting from Israel's blockade on Gaza implemented earlier this year after a previous ceasefire collapsed.

UN-backed experts reported in August that parts of the territory were experiencing famine, an assessment Israel has disputed.

The hostage's brother also described psychological torture.

"They were told numerous lies — that the Israeli army was searching for them to kill them. They were shown other hostages who, they were told, had been intentionally killed by Israeli forces," Gal Gilboa Dalal said.

"They face a very long recovery journey, both physically and mentally," he added.

When contacted by AFP, a Hamas official speaking anonymously claimed the Palestinian Islamist movement and its allies "treated the detainees under their custody in accordance with Islamic teachings, in a very ethical and humane manner."

The official stated the hostages "lived in the same conditions as their guards" and received "medical and psychological care and food according to what was available in Gaza."

"No captive was subjected to insults or torture... unlike the treatment of Palestinian prisoners by (Israel)," the official alleged.

While none of the 20 former hostages has spoken publicly yet, their relatives have shared details of their captivity.

In The Times of Israel on Wednesday, Tami Braslavski revealed her son Rom Braslavski had been flogged and beaten between April and July "with objects I won't even mention."

Avinatan Or, who was held in isolation for two years, once attempted to escape but was caught and placed in a cage while handcuffed, according to his father, Yaron.

"It was a wire enclosure 1.8 metres high, as long as a mattress plus a little more. You could call it a cage," he told Israel's public radio.

Speaking to the national broadcaster, Avi Ohana, father of former hostage Yosef Haim Ohana, said his son "spent several days in an underground pit with six other captives, without enough room to sit or lie down and with barely enough air to survive."

"(Their captors) put seven men in one pit," said Avi Ohana. "They couldn't sit, only lean against the wall while standing. There was no oxygen."

Hamas and other Palestinian Islamist groups abducted 251 hostages from Israel on October 7, 2023 and transported them to Gaza, both living and deceased.

More than 200 were returned to Israel during two ceasefires in late 2023 and early 2025, or were rescued in Israeli military operations.

At the beginning of October, 48 hostages, both living and dead, remained in Gaza, including the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in 2014.

Under the terms of a US-brokered ceasefire that took effect on October 10, Hamas and its allies released the final 20 living hostages.

Since then, they have returned 12 bodies out of the 28 they were still holding.

Israel reported releasing 1,968 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for the last living hostages, and has also transferred 150 bodies of Palestinians in return for the remains of 10 Israeli hostages.

The remains of two other returned hostages belonged to a Nepalese student and a Thai farmworker.