A former Israeli hostage gave a testimony about her captivity in Gaza. Merav Tal, released after 53 days of detention, described this Monday before the Commission for the Promotion of the Status of Women the appalling conditions of her captivity under the yoke of Hamas.
“We were constantly hungry, deprived of water and electricity. It was a permanent nightmare, with incessant threats at gunpoint,” Merav Tal revealed to the assembly. She describes inhumane sanitary conditions where the hostages were forced to relieve themselves on each other, due to a lack of running water. On the day of her release, she endured eight hours of waiting, blindfolded with duct tape, a black plastic bag covering her head.
Her ordeal began in Nir Oz, where she was kidnapped in her pajamas. His partner’s children, aged 13 and 16, were left alone with the terrorists for 53 days. On the day of her release, she was detained by Islamic Jihad before being transferred to Hamas: “We traveled with six terrorists in a vehicle. I couldn’t speak or say that my neck hurt, that I couldn’t not breathe.” Her testimony takes an even more dramatic turn when she talks about her companion, whose body is still in Gaza. “They killed him in the kibbutz and took away his remains. I was shown a video of so-called ‘uninvolved civilians’ beating him. One father even brought his eight-year-old son to be beaten the body, to make it a terrorist like him,” she says with emotion.
Today, Merav Tal cannot find peace: “I wake up every night plagued by nightmares. It is impossible to sleep until the others come home. I never imagined that my body could shake like this. ” She launches an urgent appeal to the international community, in particular to the ambassadors present during the session: “The tortures are incessant, the world must do everything to get them out of there.” Deputy Foreign Minister Sharon Haskel stressed during the session that the October 7 attack was an assault on the fundamental values of the civilized world, recalling that 13 women remain among the 101 Israeli hostages held by Hamas for 415 days.
This testimony highlights the urgency of the situation of the hostages who remain captive in Gaza, while highlighting the profound after-effects which mark those who have found freedom.
Belgium
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