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In Harrowing Account, Israeli Ex-Hostage Describes Abuse, Starvation, Witnessing Execution of Fellow Captive
Israel former hostage Eliya Cohen recounting his experience in Hamas captivity in Gaza. Photo: Screenshot
Israeli former hostage Eliya Cohen, who was abducted by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, said in an interview this week that his 505 days in captivity in Gaza were marked by near-starvation and physical and psychological torment.
Among the most traumatic moments for Cohen was witnessing the execution of a fellow captive and being stripped naked on a weekly basis only to be told he “wasn’t thin enough.”
Cohen’s account, relayed to Israel’s Channel 12 news on Tuesday, was one of the most chilling testimonies to date.
Cohen and his fiancée, Ziv, had fled the Nova festival in southern Israel and taken refuge in a roadside bomb shelter. The shelter, which would later be referred to as the “bunker of death,” was attacked by terrorists who threw grenades inside. Another person hiding in the bunker, Aner Shapira, hurled grenade after grenade back outside. But the eighth exploded, killing Shapira and the others.
“I jumped on Ziv … and the first thing that came out of my mouth was: ‘Ziv, I love you,’” Cohen recalled.
Cohen and Ziv survived the blast, but they were soon captured. On the way to Gaza, one of the captives in the truck announced his intention to escape. Cohen said he and the others tried to convince him to change his mind. “We told him not to. But he jumped off the truck, and they stopped driving and shot him dead,” he said.
When they arrived in Gaza, Cohen was taken to a house where a man claiming to be a medic approached him. “He said he’d remove the bullet from my leg,” Cohen recalled. He denied Cohen’s request for painkillers, instead, shoving a cloth into the hostage’s mouth and warning him not to scream, fearing that the noise might attract attention from civilians outside. The medic then used tweezers to extract the bullet. “It was completely agonizing,” Cohen recalled.
Cohen, who returned home severely malnourished, left behind another captive, Alon Ohel. Ohel’s fate became clear when Cohen, after being told of his own release, was informed that Ohel would not be joining him. “Alon panicked and started crying,” Cohen recalled in an interview. Cohen offered to switch places, but his captors refused. “I truly thought the second stage would come in a matter of days,” Cohen said about the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal. “He’s blind in one eye.”
Cohen’s departure was bittersweet. He recalled their last moment together, saying, “I told him, ‘Don’t forget your family. They’re the most important thing in the world.’” Cohen made a promise to Ohel: “I wouldn’t forget him. Until I see him back home, this isn’t over.” Even after his release, Cohen said he is haunted by Ohel’s absence.
“Until I see him back home, this isn’t over,” Cohen said.
The conditions in captivity were deplorable, and starvation was a daily reality for Cohen and the others. For most of their imprisonment, food was scarce, rationed to barely enough to survive. Cohen described a daily struggle for sustenance: “We fought for survival. We got one pita a day with two spoonfuls of fava beans, peas, or something similar.” Many times, they were given less food than promised, and the captors showed little remorse, telling the hostages to “share it among yourselves.”
“We fought for survival,” Cohen said. “You’d think twice before going to the bathroom because just standing up made you dizzy.”
Twice a week, they were ordered to take off all their clothes. Their captors would taunt, “You’re not thin enough, time to cut your food rations.”
Hunger was a constant struggle, he said, and the captors seemed to take pleasure in their suffering. “We’d beg for extra food, and sometimes it worked,” Cohen said. “There’s no way to describe the feeling when we managed to touch their hearts, and they’d give us a small chocolate bar to share between the four of us.”
Cohen and the others were kept in chains for two months at a time, often so tightly that the restraints cut into their skin. “They bound them so tightly they cut into my legs,” Cohen explained. “I felt like a caged animal in some dark, remote place.” At the end of the two months, he was allowed to shower, after which he preferred to rechain himself rather than face the increased discomfort from their captors tightening the chains even further.
Nevertheless, Cohen said that the food deprivation was the worst of it.
“You can handle being humiliated, you can handle being cursed at, you can handle your legs being in chains,” he said. “But hunger is a daily struggle because, beyond being hungry, you are also fighting for your life. Every night, you go to sleep thinking, ‘What am I going to do tomorrow to get that piece of pita bread?’”
Among those Cohen and Ohel were held with were Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino. Cohen later learned that they were executed by Hamas after a failed rescue attempt by the Israel Defense Forces.
The post In Harrowing Account, Israeli Ex-Hostage Describes Abuse, Starvation, Witnessing Execution of Fellow Captive first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.