Sahar Kalderon, a 16-year-old girl who was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with her brother Erez, 12, and was freed along with him in the fourth round of prisoner exchanges after 52 days captive in Gaza, gave an interview to The New York Times about her ordeal.
"There was no light, no sense of time. I heard all the Israeli bombing, really intense explosions, and there were a lot of times when I thought to myself that I would be killed by Israeli missiles instead of Hamas,' she stated.
"We entered Gaza scared to death. When you are captive, you don't know anything about what is happening outside. It makes you feel helpless. I didn't know how many hostages there were, I thought that it was only me and the people I was with, I didn't know anything beyond that."
She talked about her return to Israel: "They told me that I would be returned to Israel just an hour beforehand. I was certain they were lying to me, until they actually came and took me. I met my brother Erez a few moments before they handed us over to the Red Cross. I was so happy to see him, I started to cry and told myself that at least I had him, because I didn't know anything else that had happened.
The two Kalderon children were taken from Nir Oz along with their father Ofer, and a video published by Hamas shows Erez being held by terrorists who are dragging him by his shirt. The mother of the family, Hadas, is one of the most vocal members of the Hostages' Families Headquarters. Their grandmother, Carmela Dan, was murdered in the attack along with her nephew Noyah, who had special needs. Their father is still captive in Gaza.
According to the Times, Israeli security services have warned her against going into detail about her captivity to avoid endangering either IDF soldiers operating in Gaza or the hostages still held by Hamas.