The IDF surveillance soldiers from Nahal Oz made a conscious effort to observe Jewish traditions even while being held underground and in Hamas-controlled apartments in Gaza, Ynet reported.
Despite their dire conditions and the cruelty of their captors, the soldiers refused to eat chametz (leavened bread) on Passover, and they even attempted to fast on Yom Kippur, a difficult task given the severe malnutrition they suffered.
Agam Berger, the last IDF surveillance soldier to be released, said that holding on to her faith in God gave her strength.
She had remained in captivity all alone for a full week after her comrades were released. Berger reportedly took comfort in knowing they were free, and she held on to hope that she would be next, according to Kan News.
482 days of isolation
Arbel Yehud, 29, was released along with the soldiers. She was kidnapped along with her boyfriend, Ariel Cunio, from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, Cunio is still in Hamas captivity. For nearly 16 months, Yehud was held in complete isolation, underground for extended periods. She suffered from severe malnutrition and endured cruel treatment from her captors.
According to Kan News, Yehud was informed during her captivity that her brother Dolev Yehud had been murdered on Nir Oz. Still, she remained unaware of the full scale of the massacre.
“I was mostly alone,” she said after her release.
“What you saw today – the armed men escorting me – that is just a fraction of the horror,” she said of the thousands of terrorists who surrounded her in Khan Yunis as she was being transferred to the Red Cross on her way back to Israel.
Gadi Moses: ‘I never broke, I never cried’
Eighty-year-old Gadi Moses spent his captivity focusing on the day he would return home to rebuild his community. “I never broke, I never cried – I just waited for the moment I would be free,” he told his family.
Moses saw his relatives on TV, including footage on Al Jazeera, but had no contact with them. Like Yehud, he was mentally and physically tested throughout his captivity, but he refused to give up hope.