“We received food twice a day that amounted to 700 calories at best,” former hostage Ohad Ben-Ami said as he detailed his hunger and sickness in Hamas captivity.
Speaking on N12’s Friday Studio show, he discussed the conditions in which he and five other hostages were held.
“Most of our time was spent trying to guess what we would get to eat, when it would happen, whether we would get a whole pita for each person or just half, whether there would also be a cup of rice, [and] whether we got leftovers from our captors,” Ben-Ami recounted.
He noted that he and the other hostages didn’t know when they would next receive food or if they would have to save some for the next day. They would also divide the food evenly among the six of them.
Ben-Ami, 56, also described the sickness that spread among the hostages. “When someone is sick, everyone is sick.”
Noting the lack of medicine, he added that diarrhea and an upset stomach were common among them.
“Everything was contagious and exhausting because we lost fluids, and there were several cases where we lost consciousness due to high fever,” he explained.
He said the other hostages with him during his time in captivity included Elkana Bohbot and Yosef-Haim Ohana. “I know exactly what they’re going through. And the truth is, when I was there, they were kind of my children,” he shared. “I told them that as soon as I got out, it would take a week or two, and they would be released.”
The two, however, are still being held captive seven weeks later, and Hamas published a propaganda video of them last Monday, where they were seen sitting on the floor, looking pale. Bohbot’s wife, Rivka, said, “That’s not my husband’s face. I saw anger. I didn’t feel it was just what Hamas told him to say; he was speaking from the heart.”
Spending most of his time in tunnels, Ben-Ami was released from Hamas captivity in early February after being held by the terrorist organization for 491 days. He was released alongside Or Levy and Eli Sharabi. The three were transferred to the Red Cross after being forced to stand on a stage in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
Continuing to speak on his captivity, Ben-Ami said that they were held “30 meters underground, in six meters of concrete and sand without air to breathe. We slept close together on a thin, damp, and wet mattress, with the same blanket that had been used as a sheet for over a year.”
The released hostage also detailed how “insects in the tunnel would get into our noses, mouths, ears, and everywhere else possible.” He noted they were only allowed to shower once every few weeks in “cold, salty water” and that they each wore the same set of clothes the entire time.
Ben-Ami's psychological torture and release
Ben-Ami recounted how his captors told him the Israeli government “does not want a deal and does not want to end the fighting.
“We were told that our army is looking for us in order to kill us so that Hamas will not pay a price for us,” he explained, noting that he and the other hostages knew at first it was psychological terrorism but began believing their captors were telling the truth as time passed on.
What gave Ben-Ami and the others hope was watching the thousands of demonstrators in Israel calling for a hostage release deal, N12 reported.
When Ben-Ami was released, his daughters, Yulie, Ella, and Natalie, reunited with their father at Ichilov Hospital. He was initially abducted alongside his wife, Raz, who was freed in the November 2023 deal.
Since his release, Ben-Ami has traveled the world and still advocates for the release of the 59 remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, N12 reported.
Last Wednesday, he met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier as part of an official visit of former hostages to the Bundestag.
Gadi Zaig, Sam Halpern, Danielle Greyman-Kennard, and Uri Sela contributed to this report.