Hamas continues provocations during release ceremony, including use of vehicle stolen from captive’s brother
The three hostages released by Hamas on Saturday, Yair Horn, Alexander Trupanov, and Sagui Dekel-Chen, described physical and psychological abuse of the hands of their captors.
While there was some trepidation in Israel regarding the condition of the hostages following the previous release in which the three hostages came back emaciated, the three men released on Saturday appeared in better physical condition.
However, as with previous groups of hostages, the men who returned on Saturday shared stories of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of Hamas.
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Hours after the three returned to Israel, they began to share testimonies from their time in captivity. All three were abducted by Hamas terrorists after being wounded and subjected to violence that aggravated their injuries. Sagui Dekel-Chen underwent surgery for his shoulder injury in captivity and still suffers from open wounds. He was held together with Yair Horn in underground tunnels along with three other hostages. Sasha Tropanov was held alone.
According to public broadcaster Kan, Dekel-Chen was shot in the shoulder on Oct. 7, and unsuccessfully treated during his captivity. However, upon his release, he told IDF soldiers to tend to his wound later, as “the most important thing is for me to meet my family now.”
As in previous releases, Hamas and Islamic Jihad freed the three with “gifts”: discharge certificates, souvenirs and medals. Yair Horn, whose brother remains in captivity, received an hourglass from Hamas with a picture of Einav Zangaucker and her son Matan, who remains in captivity as well. The hourglass has a sign with the phrase “Time is running out” written in Hebrew and Arabic. The three men said that after such a long time in captivity, they speak some Arabic.
The hostages were also moved around, as reported by previously freed hostages. Dekel Chen was held in a hospital in Gaza, along with other hostages from Nir Oz, including Itzik Elgart, until the beginning of the first hostage-ceasefire agreement on Nov. 24, 2023.
After the first hostage release, Dekel-Chen, and the other Nir Oz hostages were separated. Yair Horn met his brother, Eitan, in the tunnels under Gaza earlier in his captivity, however, he has not seen him recently and the family does not know his condition.
Yair Horn’s mother, Ruthie Strom, said that he received several blows to the head during his captivity, and that he was kept in tunnels most of the time.
Channel 12 news reported that the three hostages were wrongly considered to be soldiers and were regularly interrogated by Hamas, including the use of torture, in attempts to gain useful intelligence.
In a final element of psychological abuse, the three hostages were brought to the handover ceremony in a pickup truck stolen from Yair’s brother, Eitan, during the Oct. 7 invasion. The truck was identified by the family who owned it previously, while watching the release ceremony.
In the post, Rotem Nechemya relates how her family sold the truck “to a lovely guy named Eitan who lives in the [Gaza] Envelope.”
“On 07.10 we discovered that Eitan had been kidnapped but we didn’t know that the vehicle had been kidnapped with him,” she related. The family only found out when watching the release ceremony.
A Hamas official later confirmed to Al Jazeera that the vehicle was stolen during the invasion of Nir Oz.
During the release ceremony, terrorists from Hamas’ military wing arrived at the release point in Khan Younis wearing IDF uniforms, military vests, and carrying IDF weapons taken during the past year of fighting.
This article was originally published at All Israel News
ALL ISRAEL NEWS is based in Jerusalem and is a trusted source of news, analysis and information from Israel to our Christian friends around the world.
