American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, 65, center left, waves as he is escorted by Hamas fighters to be handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, Saturday Feb.1, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

A freed Israeli hostage said Friday (February 14, 2025) that Hamas militants starved and tortured him during captivity, as the Red Cross expressed concern over the condition of those still held in Gaza.

Hamas is set to release three more captives on Saturday in the sixth hostage-prisoner swap under a ceasefire deal with Israel.

“When I was in Gaza, I lived in constant fear, fear for my life and my personal safety,” Keith Siegel, an Israel-American who was freed on February 1, said in a video statement addressed to U.S. President Donald Trump.

“The terrorists kicked me, spat on me, and held me with no water, no light, and no air to breathe.

“I was starved and tortured, both physically and emotionally,” he said.

The mother of another released hostage, Liri Albag, told Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot that her daughter sometimes had nothing to eat for days, and “at times, they ate food meant for donkeys”.

Shiri Albag, in comments published on Thursday, said there was “minimal hygiene” in Gaza and recalled how her daughter’s captives taunted her with videos of the male hostages being beaten and abused.

“Liri told us right at the beginning, ‘I came out of hell and we went through hell there, but the boys, the soldiers, are going through more than us,'” Shiri Albag said in a separate interview with Israel’s Channel 12 news.

The latest allegations of abuse in captivity came hours as the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has facilitated the ongoing hostage-prisoner swaps between Israel and Hamas, said it was concerned about those still in Gaza.

“The latest release operations reinforce the urgent need for ICRC access to those held hostage. We remain very concerned about the conditions of the hostages,” the Red Cross said in a statement on X.

“We have consistently reiterated that release and transfer operations should be carried out in a dignified and safe manner.

“The ICRC will continue our efforts to see all hostages released, until the last hostage is returned.”

Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on January 19, the two sides have conducted five hostage-prisoner swaps.

During the fifth exchange on February 8, Hamas forced three hostages to thank their captors in front of crowds of Palestinians gathered to witness their release in Gaza.

The emaciated appearance of the hostages shocked their families and the world, and prompted the ICRC to call on Hamas to ensure subsequent swaps are more private and dignified.

The next hostage-prisoner exchange is scheduled for Saturday. Three additional men are to be released.

Since the ceasefire began, militants have released 16 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails.

The family of 19-year-old Liri Albag, an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas since October 7, 2023, said she looks “broken and shattered” in a recent video released by the militant group on Saturday. In the three-and-a-half-minute footage, Ms Albag, visibly distressed, speaks of being held for over 450 days.

“Today we received a sign of life from Liri; the video is hard to watch,” her mother, Shira Albag, said in a statement. “This is not the Liri we know. This is the shadow of Liri.”

שירה אלבג, אמה של לירי אלבג: ״עם ישראל היקר, קיבלנו היום אות חיים מלירי; סרטון שלנו קשה לראות. זאת לא לירי שאנחנו מכירים. רה״מ דיבר איתנו, נשיא המדינה, הרמטכ״ל, שר הביטחון ואמרנו להם שיעשו עסקה. זה הזמן. יש את לירי ועוד 99 חטופים שצריכים לחזור הביתה במהרה> pic.twitter.com/hjBHYKxXMP

— Raz Shechnik (@RazShechnik) January 4, 2025

“This is not the same daughter and sister that we know. She is in bad condition, and her difficult mental state is evident,” the family said in a longer statement cited by the Times of Israel. “The always-strong Liri looks broken and shattered.”

Liri Albag, a surveillance soldier stationed at the Nahal Oz military base near the Gaza border, was among 251 individuals abducted during Hamas’s assault on southern Israel. Of the seven surveillance soldiers taken, one was rescued, and another was found dead in captivity. Liri Albag and four others – Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Naama Levy, and Daniella Gilboa – remain in Gaza.

“This is the time. There is Liri and 99 other hostages who need to return home soon,” Ms Albag’s mother said. “Every day in Hamas’s hell in Gaza poses an immediate risk of death to the living hostages and endangers the ability to recover the fallen for proper burial.”

The Albag family appealed directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging the government to prioritise the hostages’ release. “We saw our heroic Liri survive and beg for her life. She is several dozen kilometres from us, and for 456 days we have been unable to bring her home,” they said. “Make decisions regarding the hostages as if your children were there. Liri is alive and must come back alive! It depends only on you.”

The October 7 attack by Hamas, backed by allied groups, killed about 1,200 Israelis. Since then, Israel has relentlessly targeted schools, hospitals, neighbourhoods, and camps housing internally displaced people. The Benjamin Netanyahu-led government, with unwavering support from the United States, still continues its offensive in Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have killed over 45,000 Palestinians and left nearly the entire population of the densely packed territory displaced.

A former Hamas hostage has lambasted the United Nations and other advocacy groups for their inaction towards the plight of hostages still held in Gaza. During an address outside the United Nations Security Council in New York on November 6, Mia Shem expressed frustration over what she described as the UN’s absence in seeking aid for those in captivity.

“Not a single humanitarian agency saw me or treated me. Where was the Red Cross? Where was the UN demanding that they have access to us?” said Mia Shem, who was released in November 2023.

The 22-year-old Israeli-French dual national detailed her harrowing experience marked by isolation, lack of medical treatment and intimidation by armed captors. She said, “For 50 days, I was kept alone, suffering from an unbearable pain in my hand, without any treatment. A Hamas terrorist sat in front of me in a dark room with a gun pointed at my head. Not a single humanitarian agency saw me or treated me even as my arm got worse.”

Shem also revealed how after her abduction she was held in a Palestinian home, where she endured harassment from an adult and taunts from a child. Speaking to Channel 12, she said, “There are no innocents in Gaza, not even one.”

Israel’s UN Ambassador, Danny Danon, also spoke at the press conference, sharply criticising the UN’s “complete moral failure.” He said the UN’s silence on the issue was “unforgivable.”

According to a report in the New York Post, while the UN Security Council has issued statements urging Hamas to release Israeli hostages, no specific actions or sanctions have been proposed to enforce these demands.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has maintained that, as a neutral humanitarian body, it cannot adopt a strong public stance, although it has expressed a desire to visit Israeli captives.

In over a year-long Israeli onslaught in Gaza, over 43,000 Palestinians — a vast majority of them kids and women — have been killed. Almost the entire population of Gaza has been internally displaced, with people forced to move from one place to another as Israeli rockets target neighbourhoods, hospitals and even camps offering temporary refuge.

The Benjamin Netanyahu government’s war in Gaza came as a retaliation to Hamas’ October 7 attack on a music festival and parts of southern Israel. At least 1200 people were killed in the attack, and Hamas took another 254 people hostage.

New Delhi:

The Israeli Defense Forces have located and recovered the bodies of six hostages, including US citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, from Gaza. The bodies were found in a tunnel under the city of Rafah.

The other hostages rescued were – Eden Yerushalmi (24), Carmel Gat (39), Almog Sarusi (26), Alex Lubnov (32) and Ori Danino (25).

The IDF confirms it retrieved from Gaza the bodies of 6 hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.

Hersh Goldberg, 23
Eden Yerushalmi, 24
Carmel Gat, 39
Almog Sarusi, 26
Alex Lubnov, 32
Ori Danino, 25

May their memories be a blessing pic.twitter.com/XucTjB6Yj0

— Israel ישראל (@Israel) September 1, 2024

US President Joe Biden also confirmed that body of Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among those found in the Gaza tunnels.

“Earlier today, in a tunnel under the city of Rafah, Israeli forces recovered six bodies of hostages held by Hamas,” Biden said in a statement.

“We have now confirmed that one of the hostages… was an American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin,” the president added.

The 23-year-old was among 251 hostages caught during the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas terrorists. About 250 people were abducted on October 7 when Hamas stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people. More than 100 hostages were freed during a cease-fire late last year.

The parents of Goldberg-Polin, who was abducted from the Supernova music festival, addressed delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month.

On Thursday, the couple joined other relatives of hostages rallying near the Gaza border. “Hersh! It’s Mom… I love you, stay strong, survive,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin shouted into a microphone.

Her son had hidden in a bomb shelter with other people on October 7 but it was surrounded by gunmen, who attacked it with grenades.

A Hamas video from the day showed him being loaded onto a pick-up truck with part of his left arm, which was blown off in the attack, missing.

He appeared in a proof-of-life video released by Hamas on April 24 in which he said the captives were living “in hell”. His left arm had been amputated below the elbow.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recently recovered the body of Hamas hostage Amit Buskila from the Gaza Strip and brought her back to Israel for burial, seven months after her death. Her last words, “I love you,” were heard during a desperate phone call with her uncle on the day she was killed.

Amit Buskila was a 28-year-old fashion stylist and social media influencer with a passion for cooking. She was at the Supernova desert rave on October 7 when Hamas operatives launched a surprise attack, killing about 1,200 people and taking dozens of hostages to Gaza, as per the Times of Israel.  

During the attack, Amit Buskila called her uncle Shimon and told him she was hiding behind cars as Hamas operatives approached Mefalsim, the place where she had escaped from the rave, reported the outlet.

Her uncle heard Ms Buskila’s last desperate words, “No, no, no,” followed by a faint, “I love you,” the report added.

In addition to Amit Buskila, the IDF found the bodies of two other hostages – Shani Louk, 23, and Itzik Gelenter, 53. In a statement, the IDF announced that the bodies had been recovered in an overnight operation. 

Spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated that the three hostages were brutally murdered when they attempted to escape during the attack, and their bodies were dragged into the Gaza Strip

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “heartbroken for the great loss,” in a post on X. 

After the October 7 incident, Israel launched an attack in Gaza that has killed more than 35,000 people and left almost 80,000 people wounded till date, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. 

Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, on Saturday released a video of a man held hostage in Gaza by Palestinian operatives and seen alive in the footage.

The captive, identified by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group as Nadav Popplewell, is seen speaking in the 11-second clip, which is superimposed with text in Arabic and Hebrew that reads: “Time is running out. Your government is lying”.

In the video the hostage, who is also a British national, has a black eye and is seen speaking under duress.

He showed no other visible signs of injuries.

Wearing a white T-shirt, he introduces himself as 51-year-old Popplewell, from kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel.

Popplewell was kidnapped from his home during Hamas’s October 7 attack along with his mother, Hanna Peri, who was released during a one-week truce in November — the only pause so far in more than seven months of war.

Popplewell’s older brother was killed in the attack.

The video posted Saturday on the Telegram channel of Hamas’s armed wing was the third time in less than a month that the group releases footage of captives held in Gaza.

On April 27 Hamas released a video showing two hostages alive — Keith Siegel and Omri Miran.

Three days earlier it broadcast another video showing hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin alive.

The videos come amid growing domestic pressure on the Israeli government to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

“Every sign of life received from the hostages held by Hamas is another cry of distress to the Israeli government and its leaders,” the families’ group said in its statement on Saturday.

“We don’t have a moment to spare! You must strive to implement a deal that will bring them all back today.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are under immense pressure to strike a deal with Hamas, but the two warring sides have so far failed despite repeated rounds of indirect negotiations.

Some 250 people were abducted to the Gaza Strip on October 7 when Hamas operatives attacked southern Israel.

Israeli officials say 128 of them are still held captive in the Palestinian territory, including 36 who are dead.

The attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza, at least 34,971 people have been killed so far, most of them women and children, according the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:
An elderly Israeli hostage who was released by Hamas said she was thrashed by the Gaza-based outfit as she was taken into their territory on October 7, but was then well-treated during her two-week captivity, news agency Reuters reported today.

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