The mother of hostage Alon Ohel, Idit Ohel, addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council during its 58th session, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced Wednesday.
“Recently released hostages reported that Alon has been confined in a small dark tunnel 40 meters underground for over 500 days. He is constantly chained at his ankles, subject to beatings and starvation, and has lost significant weight,” she told the UN on Tuesday in a video address featuring the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Dr. Alice Edwards.
“He has shrapnel in one eye, leaving him blind, and there is severe concern that he will lose his sight in his other eye as well,” she continued.
Alon Ohel was taken hostage by Hamas at the Supernova music festival on October 7. He was kidnapped while seeking refuge inside a bomb shelter, along with 26 others who fled from the festival.
According to his mother, the terrorists used RPGs and hand grenades in their efforts to kill everyone who hid in the shelter. Of the 27 people within the shelter, 16 were murdered, four were taken hostage, and only seven survived.
Idit Ohel additionally highlighted how the families of hostages suffer from psychological trauma due to Hamas’s propaganda videos and the absence of any information, which she said “deepens our anguish.”
She concluded by pleading for his release, calling on the council to bring all the hostages home now.
Meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
On Wednesday morning, family members of Nimrod Cohen, Omri Miran, and Elkana Bohbot met with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
Dr. Shelly Aviv Yeini from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Adv. Hila Kugler-Ramot from the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, and Dr. Leon Saltiel from the World Jewish Congress were also present.