Several hours after the return of 20 living hostages to Israel - where they were reunited with their families and taken to hospitals for further medical treatment - new details about their prolonged captivity in Gaza were revealed Monday evening by Channel 12 News.
According to the report, Elkana Bohbot was held in tunnels throughout the entirety of his captivity, most of the time bound in chains. He completely lost his sense of time. He shared with his family a poignant moment that occurred on his wedding anniversary with his wife, Rivka. On that day, he approached one of his captors and asked to be allowed to shower in honor of the occasion. The terrorist initially dismissed him, telling him to "sit quietly," but Elkana persisted. Eventually, the captor relented, removed his chains, and allowed him to shower.
Medically, Elkana is suffering from abdominal pain due to overfeeding ahead of his release, as well as pain in his legs and lower back.
The report also detailed the experiences of Gali and Ziv Berman, who were abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7. They said they were cut off from the outside world for an extended period. Although they were kept separately, they were held in the same area and were unaware they would be reunited before their release.
The twins recounted that some of the terrorists communicated with them in Hebrew. They also described long periods of hunger and food shortages, though there were times when slightly more food was available.
According to the report, Avinatan Or endured particularly harsh conditions during most of his captivity. He was systematically starved and, based on an initial medical evaluation, lost between 30% and 40% of his body weight. He was released extremely thin and weak.
In addition, Avinatan was kept in complete isolation. For two full years, he did not encounter any other hostages and had very little knowledge of events in Israel since October 7.
Upon his release, when he reunited with his girlfriend, Noa Argamani, he asked his family for a moment alone with her. It was then that he first heard from her about her rescue from captivity in Operation Arnon.
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Simchat Torah and Shmini Atzeret in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)