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‘I Was a Prize’: Former Hamas Hostages Share Details of Humiliation in Captivity
FILE PHOTO: A dinner table is set with empty chairs that symbolically represent hostages and missing people with families that are waiting for them to come home, following a deadly infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel October 20, 2023. REUTERS/Janis Laizans/File Photo
i24 News – The weekend’s stormy weather did not deter a demonstration held at “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv by the families of Israelis who were abducted or have been missing since October 7.
The gathered crowd heard the emotional testimony of one family members of those who are being held in Gaza, as well as one former hostage, Sharon Aloni Cunio. Sharon was released after 55 days in captivity, along with her 3-year-old twins Yuly and Ema, while her husband and brother-in-law are still being held in Gaza.
“On the way to captivity, we saw things that still haunt me at night and in the middle of the day. Sights that are burned into my memory,” Sharon told the crowd. She says her young daughters are still unable to express what they went through, and will likely reveal the effects of the trauma as they grow older.
Also on Saturday, two former hostages released video testimonies of their experiences. Sapir Cohen, 29, who along with Sharon was part of the last group of Hamas hostages to be released during the week-long truce in November. For 55 days, she sat in captivity in Gaza. She was kidnapped alongside her partner Sasha, who remains trapped in the Strip.
On Saturday night, she put out a public message about her ordeal, addressing the video in particular to her beloved partner.
“I’m terrified by what he’s going through over there,” she says in the video, “Because all the strong men, they’re the weak ones there. They’re the ones who suffer the most agony.”
She holds up her hands, showing off her nails with the letters of Sasha’s name painted across 3 of her fingers. Sapir fears that with every day that passes, more hostages could be dying as a result of the dire conditions of captivity. “They simply can’t keep living like this,” she pleads.
Moran Stella Yanai, 40, was also released as part of the hostage deal, and revealed details of her traumatic ordeal.
“I was a prize,” she began. “They brought people from the outside to see me, so they could see what they managed to catch,” Moran shared.
Despite the humiliation she endured, Moran says she was determined to win over her captors in order to improve her conditions, revealing that she managed to get her hands on a pack of cards. “I had one goal. I will make them like me, so I can get food, so I can get water.”
Moran recounted one particular example of how she was degraded, saying that when she said she was hungry, her kidnapper taunted her and forced her to beg for food. She says that another of her captors demanded eye contact. “When he was angry at me, he wanted me to look at him closely all the time, so I remember his face really really really well.”
“‘Really look into my eyes’,” she says he demanded. “‘Look. Shut your mouth and go to sleep.’ And then you go to sleep and have nightmares about him.”
Throughout her 54 days in captivity, Moran says that every morning she would wake up and be grateful she was still alive, and no matter what she went through over the course of the day, she would repeat her thank you every night before going to sleep. “That’s the only thing that kept me going,” she recounted through tears.
The post ‘I Was a Prize’: Former Hamas Hostages Share Details of Humiliation in Captivity first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
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