600 days into the war, hostages testimonies aren't moving needle on a deal

Several hostages freed from the Gaza Strip have recounted the horrors they faced in captivity, but 600 days after the start of the war, there is still little evidence of a concrete deal to free the remaining captives. 

Seven hostages freed from Gaza—Omer, Eli, Yair, Amit, Arbel, Emily, and Keith—have bravely recounted their stories. They hope their testimonies will underscore the urgent need to reach a prisoner exchange deal. But despite their efforts, negotiations remain stalled. 

Unfortunately, even after their testimonies became public, talks have reached dead ends, with officials blaming Hamas for the impasse. In some cases, politicians have questioned the credibility of the hostages’ stories, suggesting ties to Hamas. Below are testimonies from hostages during more than 600 days of war.

Here are some of the more heartbreaking stories from former hostages. 

'They risked my life for fun'

Just this week, Omer Wenkert, freed in the latest deal after being kidnapped at the Nova Festival, described the cruelty he faced. “They risked my life for fun,” he said. “One of them brought pesticide spray, put me at the end of the corridor, and sprayed it on my face, with my eyes open. He made sure everything I touched was sprayed.” Omer also recalled being beaten with an iron rod while locked for months in a tiny cell with only a hole for waste. 

Eli Sharabi’s story is heartbreaking. His daughters, Noya and Yahel, and his wife, Lianne, were murdered, and his brother, Yossi, died in captivity. Eli was held for a year and four months, chained and shackled “with very, very heavy locks that tore your flesh.”

He was beaten so severely that his ribs broke. But hunger, he said, was the hardest to bear; sometimes surviving on just a bowl of pasta a day until “the stomach caves in.” After his release, he told the United Nations, “I weighed only 44 kilos. I lost over 30 kilos, nearly half my body weight.”

Yair Horn was forced to say goodbye to his brother Eitan, who remains in Gaza. He described psychological torture that included trivial demands meant to break him down, such as forcing him to eat with his right hand despite being left-handed, just to get food. Diabetic and suffering from neuropathy, Yair said that IDF bombings were among the scariest moments in captivity. “The hostages fight for breath, my brother has no time,” he said, lighting a candle at Hostages Square.

About a year ago, Amit Soussana testified that she was sexually assaulted while captive. She recounted the story to the United Nations Security Council.

“He came at me, pushed his gun against my forehead, and hit me. He dragged me to the children’s room, a room full of children’s posters—then pointed the rifle at me and forced me to perform a sexual act.”

Sexual assault of the hostages was, unfortunately, common. N12 news site reported that Karina Aryev was also sexually harassed. Chen Goldstein Almog heard from three women who were assaulted, and Aviva Siegel told the Knesset that a separate hostage said, “a terrorist touched her.”

Arbel Yehoud came to the Knesset to deliver a message to lawmakers.

“I was severely beaten and even thrown into isolation for long days, without food fit for human consumption, and in hygienic conditions like those in concentration camps during the Holocaust,” she said.

Arbel was held alone throughout captivity. Her partner, Ariel Cunio, remains in Gaza, and her brother, Dolev, was murdered on October 7.

Emily Damari lost two fingers and suffered intense pain after being shot in Gaza. She recalled being taken into surgery “with a corpse in front of me,” then waking to Hamas’s doctor telling her she had lost two fingers and that her leg wound was still open with only four stitches instead of sixteen.

Keith Siegel said he was forced to watch a sexual assault on a female hostage.

“They made me watch it. I saw the sexual assault of one of the hostages.” He described other abuse, including spitting, and said, “I was subjected to subhuman conditions with no air, no light, no sanitation, not enough food and water, in tunnels where I couldn’t stand. They shaved our heads and pubic hair around our private areas.”