More than a year has passed since Arbel Yehoud was freed from captivity in Gaza, where she was held for 482 days after being abducted by Hamas. Four months ago, she was finally reunited with her partner, Ariel Konio, who was kidnapped alongside her and remained in captivity for 738 days.
In an interview with Channel 12, Yehoud said that only after Konio’s release in the October hostage deal did she fully grasp how much of her experience he did not know. “Ariel and I sat down together and began to talk," she recalled. “That’s when we realized he had no idea what I had gone through in captivity."
Yehoud said she still struggles to describe the full extent of her ordeal, choosing instead to keep the most painful memories, in her words, “in a closed suitcase." Referring to testimony by another survivor, she said that incidents described as isolated events were, for her, a near-daily reality throughout the 482 days she was held.
Konio spoke about the shock of learning what she had endured. “Even if I understood, I didn’t want to accept it," he said. “And then it hits you like a punch to the stomach. It feels as though your whole world collapses." He described an immediate physical reaction to the conversation: “By the end of that day, it showed. I fainted. I started shaking. My body simply gave out."
Yehoud explained that she deliberately kept her experiences to herself until Konio returned. “I had a very strong desire to hold onto it until Ariel came back, because he’s the person closest to me and the one I want to share it with," she said. “And we’re still not there yet. It’s very hard." She added that she deeply admires other former hostages who are able to publicly recount their trauma. “I appreciate and love those who can sit down, open their mouths, and tell what happened," she said.
Held alone for the duration of her captivity, Yehoud said her mental state deteriorated severely, leading her to attempt suicide three times. “There were moments when I felt I couldn’t go on, that maybe this was the only way out," she said. On one occasion, she said, she saw images from a rally for the hostages at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, which persuaded her to keep living.
She described prolonged isolation, hunger, and mental, sexual, and physical abuse, including suffering two broken ribs. However, she declined to provide further details. Throughout her captivity, she said, thoughts of Konio sustained her. “Every time I remembered Ariel, it gave me strength to keep breathing," she said, referring to the moments when she struggled most.