More Abhorrent Treatment

While we’re certainly happy that three more hostages were released, the men already are speaking about what happened to them as we see in a report from The Times Of Israel:

Channels 12, 13, and Kan TV tonight carry bits of information from today’s freed hostages that they have conveyed to their families and that the military censor has permitted for publication.

Among the key details:

All three of the hostages freed today endured “very harsh captivity, including physical abuse.”

All three were very hungry when released. All three have learned Arabic in captivity.

Sagui Dekel-Chen and Iair Horn were held together, and with other hostages, in recent days. For most of their captivity, they were in tunnels.

Two of the hostages gave hope about others still being held:

They were held with other hostages and have returned with signs of life regarding at least three.

They were treated poorly just as we expected:

Both men were wounded when they were abducted and suffered abuse that exacerbated their injuries.

Sasha Troufanov was held alone.

All three were held not far from where they were abducted:

All three were held in Khan Younis, from where they were freed today, mere hundreds of meters from their homes on Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Horn was with his brother but Hamas eventually separated them as a form or torture along with starving him:

Iair Horn has told his family that he and his brother Eitan were held together early in their captivity, but not recently. He has said Eitan is injured in the leg. He was compelled by his captors to film a video in which he talks about Eitan, Kan reports.

He has lost tens of kilograms in weight, and received almost no medical treatment.

More psychological torture occurred:

His captors gave Horn an hourglass with a picture of Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage, which the IDF intends to give to her, according to Kan.

More Details

Another hostage gave some details from his time as a captive:

Dekel-Chen was “tortured during interrogations” by his captors, Channel 12 reports. He has scars on his body, the report says.

He was held in a Gaza hospital for the first few weeks of his captivity along with other hostages, Kan reports. One of them was Itzik Elgarat.

The report says that Dekel-Chen knew nothing about what had become of his family for the entire time he was held hostage. He was completely cut off from all media. “He both mourned and cried” for his family, and also “held out hope for them and was optimistic.”

He only found out two days ago that he was going to be released.

He was told about having a daughter born just before his release:

Kan says Dekel-Chen’s captors told him, apparently shortly before his release, that he had a daughter born while he was in captivity, and gave him earrings for his wife. Dekel-Chen didn’t believe what they told him, and asked the IDF representatives he met on his release to confirm it.

He was wounded when he was taken captive but didn’t think that was more important than seeing his family:

Dekel-Chen was wounded in his shoulder on October 7, 2023, but told the IDF representatives it was not important, and that “the most important thing is that I meet my family already.”

In recent hours, he reunited with his daughters, the Channel 12 report says.

The third hostage didn’t even know that his father was killed until told by the IDF:

Sasha Troufanov did not know that his father was killed on October 7 and burst into tears when told today by IDF representatives.

Isolated from the world he didn’t know that his mother and girlfriend was released during the first hostage deal:

He barely saw TV or heard the radio in captivity. He did not know that his family was struggling to get him released. But he did hear the radio at the time of the first truce in November 2023 and learned that his mother and girlfriend had been freed.

Of course they were all emaciated and pale but not a poorly as the previous three, more likely because Hamas needed to try and look better and the relatively young ages of the three.

Netanyahu Wants First Phase To Continue

The PM is now bucking the US President as well as his own citizens by trying to extend the current phase as see in another report from The Times:

After Hamas freed 3 hostages today — seemingly less than what some Israeli officials demanded in recent days — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office releases a vague statement that gives no indication of what Israel will do next.

Netanyahu surprisingly accepted returning to the schedule deal and didn’t heed Trump’s desire to see all the hostages released:

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said that if Hamas doesn’t release all 76 hostages it was holding by Saturday at noon, Israel was free to renew the fighting and unleash “hell” on the Palestinian terror group. That ultimatum — assuming it was noon in Washington, DC — passed just over an hour ago.

The PM did thank Trump’s support of any decisions he makes:

Netanyahu “appreciates the [US] president’s full support for Israel’s decisions regarding the Gaza Strip going forward,” says the Prime Minister’s Office.

The PMO also said that Netanyahu will talk with his security team to detail their path going forward:

“The Prime Minister will convene the security cabinet as soon as possible to decide on Israel’s next steps,” says the statement.

The puzzling statements made leading up to the Saturday deadline was all of the map:

Israeli officials last week demanded the release of “our hostages,” 9 hostages “in the coming days,” and “all of them.”

The Prime Minister seemed to thank Trump for getting the three hostages released by putting pressure on Hamas most likely thinking the US President got them to temper their delay tactics:

Netanyahu “highly appreciates” Trump’s leadership, says his office, and the ongoing coordination with the United States.

“The combination of the reinforcement of IDF forces around the Gaza Strip and President Trump’s firm stance led to the release of three of our hostages today — despite Hamas’s earlier refusal to release them,” boasts the PMO.

But how long will Netanyahu keep Trump on his side especially after Trump basically gave him a blank check in handling Hamas? And how long can he put off pressure and demands from the hostage families and pretty much the majority of Israel’s citizens who for the first time are totally behind what Trump supports? I don’t think too much longer. Only time will tell.