NAZARETH, (PIC)
Israeli ex-detainee in Gaza, Chen Goldstein-Almog, said that she and her three children were treated respectfully and not physically harmed or maltreated during their detention by Hamas fighters.
According to The New York Times, Goldstein-Almog had long conversations with her captors, sometimes for hours. “We talked about our families and the extreme danger we all faced.”
She explained that they were mostly detained in an apartment in Gaza, but she and her children were transferred during their detention period — which lasted 7 weeks — to different apartments, tunnels, a mosque, and even a destroyed supermarket, adding that during their movement between those places, the situation was terrifying due to the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
She also said that the commander of the guards appeared educated and spoke Hebrew, pointing out that the guards taught her son 250 words in Arabic to keep him busy, brought him a notebook for study, regularly discussed with them what to eat and invited them to participate in cooking meals in kitchens.
She said that a Hamas fighter apologized to her for the killing of her husband and one of her daughters by other individuals, telling her that what had happened was wrong.
Goldstein-Almog affirmed that before her release, a guard told her “don’t go back to the Gaza envelope because we are coming back” and told her to go further.
Goldstein-Almog, 48, and her three children were captured on the first day of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7.
They were released in late November as part of a prisoner exchange between the Hamas Movement and the Israeli occupation during the temporary humanitarian truce.
