A member of the family of two Israeli boys launched from Hamas captivity this week mentioned they have been branded like cattle, amongst different abuses, within the weeks they have been held in Gaza since Oct. 7, in keeping with a report.
Brothers Yagil Yaakov, 12, and Or Yaakov, 16, have been freed Wednesday throughout a short lived cease-fire that noticed the discharge of roughly 110 hostages. Their uncle mentioned the terrorists branded every boy by utilizing the exhaust pipe of a bike to determine them in case they escaped, the Instances of Israel reported.
“They told us stories about what they went through inside Gaza. The stories are horrible,” Yaniv Yaakov mentioned in North Macedonia with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. “Each child that was taken by Hamas was taken on a motorbike, and they took every child, took his leg and put it on the exhaust of that motorbike, so they have a burn, so they will be marked if they run, if they escape, so [Hamas] can find them.”
He added, “They were drugged, they were treated so badly, but at least they are with us.”
STORIES OF TORTURE, TORMENT REVEALED BY ISRAELI CHILDREN KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS TERRORISTS
Palestinian Hamas terrorists are seen throughout a navy present within the Bani Suheila district on July 20, 2017 in Gaza Metropolis. (Chris McGrath/Getty Pictures)
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett confirmed the small print of the branding on social media platform X, saying, “We now know that Hamas terrorists who held hostage 13-year-old Yagel Yaacov and his brother Or, used a boiling hot motorcycle exhaust to ‘imprint’ a burn on their legs as a way to identify them if they try to escape.”
“Let me repeat: They took a boiling piece of metal and pinned it to the legs of a helpless 13-year-old captive child,” he added.
When a consumer pressed him for proof of the declare, he mentioned he met with the kids and noticed their scars.
A girl holds a flag of Israel and a portrait of 13-year-old Alma, held hostage in Gaza for the reason that October 7 assault by Hamas militants in southern Israel, throughout a protest asking for the discharge of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv on Nov. 25, 2023. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP through Getty Pictures)
The grotesque account out of Gaza is the most recent in a rising checklist of tales of torture and torment revealed by Israeli youngsters launched in the course of the short-term cease-fire and the Israeli hostage-for-Palestinian prisoner alternate.
Vivian Hadar, the aunt of Mia Schem, 21, who was freed Thursday, mentioned her younger niece was taken from the Nova music competition, the place she was shot within the arm. She needed to endure the ache of the gunshot wound whereas she was being held hostage, solely receiving therapy from a Palestinian veterinarian, the Instances of Israel reported.
“She underwent trauma. She’s thin, she’s weak,” Hadar informed reporters. “She did physical therapy for herself. We’re happy she’s with us. It’s really tough to see her like this.”
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Moran Aloni, the relative of 5 launched hostages — two of his sisters and three nieces — mentioned the terrorists typically withheld meals and solely fed them to maintain them alive.
An Israeli couple holding their nationwide flag stroll in entrance of graffiti calling for the discharge of Israeli hostages held within the Gaza Strip for the reason that October 7 assault by Hamas militants in southern Israel, in Jerusalem on Nov. 18, 2023, amid the continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP through Getty Pictures)
“There wasn’t food every day. And if there was something one day, it was not something you could count on to satisfy you. It kept them alive,” he informed Channel 12.
Different hostages mentioned they have been separated from relations throughout their captivity and repeatedly informed them that “Israel gave up on them” to decrease morale, the Instances of Israel reported.
Deborah Cohen, the aunt of 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi, who was freed on Monday, informed French TV Channel BFM on Tuesday that terrorists jeered and beat him. Additionally they pressured him at gunpoint to observe uncooked video footage of the horrors they carried out on Oct. 7, she mentioned.
“It is the kind of horror film that no one wants to see,” Cohen mentioned. “They forced him to watch it and if he or any of the other children cried, the terrorists threatened them with a gun to keep quiet.”
An undated picture of Mia Schem, 21, who was launched by Hamas after being held captive within the Israel-Hamas struggle. (Hostages and Lacking Individuals Households Discussion board)
Medical personnel treating the launched Israeli hostages additionally detailed the bodily and psychological affect of their dwelling circumstances with Hamas in Gaza.
Dr. Yael Mozer Glassberg, a senior doctor within the Division of Returned Youngsters on the Schneider Medical Heart in Tel Aviv, a member of the specifically assembled workforce tasked with treating the returned hostages, informed Fox Information Digital, “It is very, very quiet here.”
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In accordance with Glassberg, most of the Israeli hostages misplaced as much as 15% of their physique weight throughout their 50-day captivity with the terrorists.
Individuals wave flags and cheer as a second helicopter with Israeli hostages launched earlier by Hamas lands at Schneider medical centre on the third day of the short-term truce the place they disembarked behind screens as household and associates wait close by on Nov. 26, 2023 in Petah Tikva, Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Pictures)
Dr. Itai Pessach, director of Safra Youngsters’s Hospital at Sheba Medical Heart, mentioned at a press convention that the hostages have “undergone hardship, physically and mentally,” the Instances of Israel reported. “I feel the need to make their cry heard. The world needs to know how evil and cruel the behavior of Hamas is.”
He didn’t determine the hostages as a result of sufferers’ privateness.
Hamas terrorists initially took about 240 hostages throughout their Oct. 7 assault on Israeli border communities. Throughout the assault, the Hamas-led forces killed about 1,200 Israelis.
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Throughout the week-long cease-fire, Israeli and Hamas negotiators struck a deal for about 110 hostages. The released hostages included 86 Israelis and 24 overseas nationals.
As of Friday, roughly 137 hostages nonetheless stay below Hamas custody within the Gaza Strip.
Fox Information’ Ruth Marks Eglash contributed to this report.
