Parents of released Israeli female hostages describe their daughters’ suffering in Hamas captivity

The parents of recently released hostages Karina Ariev, Liri Albag, and Naama Levy shared details of the suffering their daughters endured on Oct. 7, 2023, and during their 477 days in captivity in Gaza.

Ariev's father, Albert, said Karina is still not ready to talk about the traumatic events of Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists attacked her military base and brutally murdered most of her colleagues in cold blood.

"She just doesn’t talk about it," he said. "What happened in that shelter was horrific. It makes her rehabilitation even harder – I can see it. Something terrible happened to my daughter on October 7. The captivity wasn't easy but the nightmare is split into two parts," the father continued.

Shira Albag, the mother of Liri, agreed, noting that the Oct. 7 mass terror attack was no less traumatic than the actual captivity in Gaza.

"October 7 is as much a trauma as captivity and we haven't even begun addressing it. They saw their friends murdered and then sat there for four hours. Liri told me, 'Mom, we’ll have to process that later.' She hasn't spoken about what happened there.,” Shiri recalled.

“At the time, they thought it had only happened at their base – they had no idea of the scale. Only after four days, when they met other hostages, did they start to grasp the full picture. It took time for them to realize how many people were kidnapped," she continued.

Albag revealed that Hamas terrorists subjected her daughter and the other Israeli captives to psychological terror during their long captivity in Gaza.

“The captors made sure to hide anything relevant from them, except for negative news about Israel – saying there were no agreements, no efforts to bring them back. They used psychological terror, telling them, 'We’ll marry you off and convert you to Islam.'"

Albag also revealed that the Hamas captors kept her daughter both in tunnels and above ground.

"She was in both houses and tunnels. Mostly homes. The tunnels drove her crazy with the silence, even though they technically had more freedom to move. But they were humid and eerily quiet – total silence. At least in the houses, she could hear movement outside, which helped her feel that something was happening,” she explained.

International commentators have insisted on making a distinction between Hamas and the general civilian population in Gaza. Like many other Israeli hostages, Liri was held captive by local Gazan families who cooperated with Hamas.

"The houses she was in belonged to families with children and those kids cursed at her, spat on her and threatened her. We’ll have to deal with these kids when they grow up to be terrorists. That’s our reality in the Middle East," Albag said.

Liri and the other female hostages were forced to endure harsh conditions with minimal food and poor hygiene, Albag continued.

"Sometimes they got two meals a day; sometimes they had nothing for days. At times, they ate food meant for donkeys. They made pita bread from it because there was no flour. Hygiene was minimal. Liri wore the same underwear from October 7. As women, we understand what that means – it’s not easy. They got sick a lot."

Looking ahead, Karina's father, predicted a long rehabilitation process for his daughter and the other former hostages.

"Karina has a long rehabilitation ahead of her. She was injured in the head and lower limbs. Her legs are full of shrapnel, which makes standing and walking for long periods difficult. She also has shrapnel in her face, so it'll take time,” Ariev said.

The male Israeli hostages appear to have been treated even worse than the female hostages. Like many who observed their release, U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his outrage when he saw the poor condition of the recently released Israeli male hostages – Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy.

“I watched the hostages come back today and they looked like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated. It looked like many years ago, the Holocaust survivors, and I don’t know how much longer we can take that,” Trump said, later warning that “at some point, we’re gonna lose our patience.”