Yarden Bibas in an IDF helicopter after his release
Yarden Bibas in an IDF helicopter after his releaseIDF spokesperson

New testimonies published Monday evening reveal that Yarden Bibas was subjected to extreme psychological terrorism and abuse by his captors.

Yarden was released from Hamas captivity on Saturday, alongside Ofer Calderon and Keith Siegel. Yarden's wife Shiri, and children Ariel (5) and Kfir (2) remain in captivity - despite two deals under which all other women and children taken hostage were freed.

According to the testimonies, published on Channel 12 News, Bibas was held alone in a tunnel, and allowed out of it only once a day, in order to eat with other hostages. The terrorists refused to allow him to spend time with another captive from his kibbutz, and he lost approximately 15 kilograms.

In one instance, Yarden saw a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz passing in a tunnel. He asked the terrorists to remain with him, so that they could support each other, but the Hamas terrorists refused. In addition, he was initially held in a small cell separate from his friends from Nir Oz. He was dressed in a jalabiya. For part of the time, there was no food.

It has also been revealed that Yarden thought his wife Shiri and children Ariel and Kfir remained at home and were saved. He attempted to verify this with the terrorists, over and over - every day, every hour - until they decided to lie to him and told him that Shiri and his children were seen in Tel Aviv.

Later, the terrorists demanded that one of the women held hostage tell Yarden about the fate of Shiri and his children. She refused, and they afterwards forced another hostage to tell him. The hostage's voice shook and he cried as he updated Yarden, and the terrorists filmed Yarden during those difficult moments.

It was also revealed that some of the hostages who returned over the past few weeks said they saw Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during their time in the tunnels. Sinwar was killed in October.