Hamas captivity survivor Eliya Cohen on Saturday evening published a sharp and painful post following the release of footage showing the six hostages murdered in Hamas captivity, in which the six are seen lighting Hanukkah candles, playing cards, and expressing hope for their release.
Cohen described how watching the footage immediately transported him back to the days of his own captivity and to moments he shared with some of the hostages in the tunnels.
“For an entire Shabbat (Sabbath) I’ve been sitting and thinking about the situation - it’s insane how unpredictable life is,” he wrote. He said he felt a special need to share this story, also out of a sense of remembrance. “Anyone who read my book definitely knows this story I’m about to tell, and for those who haven’t - I’m sharing it here because I feel a need for this important commemoration.”
Cohen explained that one of the clips shown on the ‘Uvda’ program was from the 52nd day of his captivity, and he noted that three of the hostages - Hersh, Almog, and Ori - were with him in the same tunnel.
“Hersh, Almog, and Ori came from our tunnel,” he said. “Seeing them in the video exactly as they looked then, and then thinking back to the day they left our tunnel, wearing the exact same clothes from the video - looking exactly the same. It’s just insane.”
Recounting the days leading up to their separation, he shared, “The day before, on the 51st day, they told Ori he was going home. He was worried and shared his feelings with me, that it felt strange to him, that he sensed something bad was going to happen. He just felt it…” The next day, on the 52nd day, the dramatic moment came: “The terrorists woke everyone up with screaming in the morning and said to Ori, Almog, and Hersh that they were going home to their mothers.”
“On one hand I was jealous - I also wanted to go home - but on the other hand, of course, I was happy for them.” About the moments just before they parted, he described, “When we parted, I wrote down my mother’s phone number for them and told Ori and Hersh, who were Jerusalemites, that no matter what happens - look for her and tell her that I’m alive, that I’m strong, that I will survive and return home.”
Cohen added that afterward he remained alone in the tunnel for a very long time: “And from that point on, I continued my life in suffering in that tunnel for another 463 days (but that’s for another post).”
Only much later did he learn the fate of the six, he added.
“Four days before my release, I met Omer Shemtov. When we talked a bit, Omer told me for the first time about the murder of the six hostages in captivity,” he said. “When I asked for their names, my heart clenched. I couldn’t breathe. How could it be? They went home - I saw them go home.”
“And in that second, my heart burned. They were so close to going home. And instead of that, they were murdered in cold blood in Hamas' tunnels.
“Seeing these videos today sends me back in time. To the days in the tunnel, to those small moments fighting for our Jewish identity.”
“Seeing the exact same people, the same haircuts, the same clothes - it's chills all over my body. I can really live that exact moment with them. Feel the same feeling, smell the same smell, experience the same cramped space of the tunnel.”
“And mostly, I’m bummed for you,” Cohen wrote, “mostly because you won’t get to meet these incredible people and hear their survival stories from their own mouths, because each one had an unbelievable story.”
He concluded with a personal memorial: “In memory of Ori Danino, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi, and the three others whom I sadly never met - Alexander Lubanov, Eden Yerushalmi, and Carmel Gat.”