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Hostage Survivor Testifies Hamas Captors Tortured Young Woman in Front of Her
Relatives and supporters of hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel rally for their release, after a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas ended when the terrorist group broke it, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
i24 News — Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, held a hearing for returned hostages and families of those still being held in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack, to discuss the harrowing situation of the abducted and the efforts to rescue the 136 people remaining in captivity, as well as to provide a space for testimonies from those who survived the atrocities.
Aviva Adrienne Siegel, who was held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for 51 days, gave one of the most moving testimonies. “I want to talk to you about several moments that were very difficult for me,” she said. “There were millions like that and I could go on talking to you for a week.”
“I want to help the abductees to be strong enough. I came home and found my daughters half their size because they hadn’t eaten,” Siegel said, describing her experience returning to Israel.
“My life has changed from one end to the other. Everywhere I go I am looked at as the hostage. I went through 51 days of hell in Gaza, of humiliation and my husband is still there going through it and I can’t do it. I feel like I’m suffocating, I don’t sleep at night,” said Siegal, whose husband Keith is still held in Gaza.
“I want to tell you that the abductees are much worse than us. They are there in the dark, without medication that they should receive. One of the days in captivity I met an abductee. I’ll say some unkind words: this son of a b—ch touched her and didn’t even let me hug her after it happened,” Siegel said, adding that the female hostage confided that the terrorist holding them captive had sexually assaulted her.
“There was another case of an abductee who arrived and they thought she was an army officer and they simply tortured her next to me. I was a witness to it,” she testified at the parliamentary hearing, concluding “I want to ask you how I am supposed to deal with all this?”
Sigi Cohen, whose son was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival, tearfully said, “Elia was wounded by gunfire and kidnapped to Gaza. From that moment on, I have no idea what happened to my son for 95 days. None of the returnees saw him. No one knows what’s going on with him.”
“Enough of this, we must know. At least let the Red Cross come in and check what’s going on with him. He’s had an epileptic fit before,” she said. “No one talks about the men who are there! It’s not only women, not just children. It should be everyone, just everyone.”
The hearing was attended by Knesset members, ambassadors, returned hostages, and family members. The caucus was established by Likud coalition lawmaker Boaz Bismuth and opposition member from Yesh Atid, Shelly Tal Meron.
The post Hostage Survivor Testifies Hamas Captors Tortured Young Woman in Front of Her 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.