As the Israel-Hamas war reaches its 73rd day, the stories of hostages released from Hamas captivity are emerging with each passing day. A group of recently liberated hostages and their families met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Saturday night. They shared their horrifying experiences during captivity, shedding light on the truly frightening situations they endured.
One of the released hostages informed "Every passing day is terrifying. You have no idea what kind of monsters we are dealing with. If they're feeling threatened, they will use the captives. They scared us that the IDF would use the Hannibal Directive on civilians, and therefore we were scared when the [IDF] bombings were close,". Hannibal Directive is the procedure of using heavy fire by IDF if a soldier is abducted – even if the life of soldier is at risk.
"They were so close that we begged them to take us from the building in which we were held, into the tunnels for safety, and at one stage, they did," the subject said. The individual also warned the soldiers: "Don't go into the tunnels. They (Hamas Terrorists) are moving around in there in vast numbers. It's a colossal danger to soldiers and to hostages."
The Health Ministry in Gaza, run by Hamas, says that more an 18,700 Palestinians have died in Israel's attacks, but Israel disagrees with this number. In November, during a short break in fighting, over 100 hostages were released out of the 240 captured on October 7. Most of the people released were women and kids. Hamas says they won't let go of any more hostages until the war ends, and they want many Palestinian prisoners, including important fighters, to be released in exchange.
People who keep an eye on Hamas say the group has made a really long system underground—about 300 miles. This system goes under houses, schools, and hospitals in the cities of the Gaza Strip. Leaders of Hamas have admitted to having this secret underground network.
