Hamas terrorists threatened to shoot Agam Berger and other hostages if Israeli forces approached where they were being held, Berger’s grandfather Aharon told Walla on Tuesday, about a week and a half after his granddaughter’s release.
He also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of deliberately delaying the hostage deal. Berger was kidnapped alongside former hostages and IDF observers Karina Ariev, Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa, and Liri Albag. Berger was only released a few days after the other four.
“She’s doing fine. The meeting with her was shocking – unbelievable,” he said.
“My granddaughter is a hero. The girls were in an active combat zone; the terrorists didn’t take the post easily. She said they went through tough experiences in captivity, but they got along well with each other and even learned Arabic from the terrorists. Every day felt like an eternity; every day, they thought they would be killed. The terrorists sat with a bullet in the chamber and told them, ‘If the IDF gets within a hundred meters of here, you’re dead.’
“The observers were injured on October 7 and did not receive proper medical treatment,” he said.
He added that Berger was wounded by shrapnel in her lip, hand, and fingers. She also shared that hygiene conditions were “very poor.”
“They relieved themselves in a bucket or a hole in the floor, like in a detention facility. They showered once every two or three weeks. They played with grains of rice to pass the time and imagined they weren’t in captivity,” he described. “People came back from there looking like Auschwitz survivors. My parents were Holocaust survivors – I know what that means.
Aharon said what the Israeli government did was a disgrace.
Israeli government not doing enough to complete the hostage deal
“They abandoned these people there,” he added. “Netanyahu is putting up many obstacles to maintain his coalition. He wanted to orchestrate these phased releases, and now he’s delaying the resumption of the deal. We should have already made a plea bargain and told him, ‘Goodbye, sir, leave us alone.’ Let the young people run things.
“Netanyahu was cynical and remains cynical. If you go to a hotel like he just did – my parents would be turning in their graves if they saw what’s happening in this country. Stop saying we’re winning. I don’t know how these people got into the Knesset – I wouldn’t let them clean a workshop. [Defense Minister] Israel Katz is a clown. After all the mess he made, we owe a thousand thanks to [IDF Chief of Staff] Herzi [Halevi].”