Interview'Won't be able to heal' if there are still hostages in Gaza

Despite suffering, Romi Gonen returned from captivity with a smile, says mother

Meirav Leshem Gonen tells ToI about the terrible conditions her daughter endured, hails all the hostages who’ve come home as ‘true survivors… they decided to live’

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of released hostage Romi Gonen, speaks to The Times of Israel on February 5, 2025 (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)
Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of released hostage Romi Gonen, speaks to The Times of Israel on February 5, 2025 (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

The mother of Romi Gonen, who has been one of the parents at the forefront of the hostage families’ struggle to bring home their loved ones, sat smiling on a couch with her shoes kicked to the side as she explained her relief at having her daughter back after 15 months.

“For the last two and a half weeks, I haven’t needed to remind myself to breathe,” said Meirav Leshem Gonen. “But now that we know a little bit about what the hostages are going through, we must take out those who are still alive, and the bodies of those who were murdered.”

Leshem Gonen appealed for all the hostages’ return during a series of interviews at the Kfar Maccabiah hotel complex near Tel Aviv, as Israel heads back to the negotiating table. Talks on the second stage were set to have started from the 16th day of the truce, which was Monday.

She thanked US President Donald Trump for his help in bringing Romi and the other hostages home, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for showing strength in moving forward on the deal, and former US President Joe Biden for his administration’s extensive work on the agreement.

Leshem Gonen urged Israel’s leaders to make sure that Israel’s West Bank, where some convicted Palestinian terrorists have been freed to as part of the hostage deal, is strengthened militarily to ensure the safety of the Israelis living near those areas.

“Bring back all the hostages and also make sure that the people living in Samaria will be safe, because of the release of terrorists to these areas,” she said, using one of the biblical names for the area. “We owe this to them.”

Romi Gonen in an undated photo uploaded to social media on February 5, 2025 (Instagram)

She also emphasized the need for mutual respect among Israelis and Jews, who she said must vouchsafe and take care of one another.

‘True survivors’

Speaking with The Times of Israel, Leshem Gonen shared some of the details that Romi Gonen has told family members about her captivity.

“Romi is sharing very little of what she went through,” said Leshem Gonen, “and most of what she shares is in a humorous way, that’s Romi. She lightens things up a little.”

She said that Romi and fellow hostage Emily Damari, who were kept captive together for part of the time, will share their experiences when they’re ready.

“There’s a connection between them, they’re people who saved each others’ lives,” she said.

Her daughter’s skin was grayish when she was released, said Leshem Gonen, after not being exposed to the sun for some time. Romi Gonen had also been starved at different times, sometimes because her captors didn’t have food, and at other times as a form of torture.

“She doesn’t have a sense of hunger,” said Leshem Gonen. “She didn’t want to eat at first. Today, maybe yesterday, was the first time she said she wanted to eat.”

Romi Gonen (right) and her mother, Meirav Leshem Gonen, embrace after Romi’s return from Hamas captivity, January 19, 2025. (IDF)

Over the last 15 months, Gonen lost ten kilograms, or about 22 pounds, and a significant amount of muscle mass.

“That’s a lot for her,” said Leshem Gonen. “She’s a skinny girl.”

Gonen’s lack of hunger shows how much the hostages adapted themselves to the situation, said her mother.

“They’re true survivors, all the girls who were released now,” she said. “They have strong minds, they decided to live. Romi came out smiling, having made a decision to live life fully.”

Their conditions were terrible, said Leshem Gonen, as the captives were kept in small spaces without sunlight, toilets or running water. Every once in a while they bathe using a cup of water.

Gonen is currently being treated for a gunshot wound to her right arm that she suffered on October 7, 2023, and for which she never received proper treatment in captivity.

Leshem Gonen told Channel 12 news that her daughter’s guards mocked her about the open wound she had in her arm when she was brought into Gaza. When she was given something to clean the injury — but no anesthetic or painkillers — the terrorists “stood around and laughed at her,” recalled her mother.

Romi, 24, will need complex surgery and a long period of physiotherapy, Leshem Gonen told The Times of Israel.

“Her hand is disabled now, she can’t use it,” she said.

Until January 19, 2025, the last time Leshem Gonen heard from her daughter was at 10:58 a.m. on October 7, 2023, as Romi and her friends tried to escape the Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.

Eitan Gonen, father of Romi Gonen who is held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, March 7, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

Gonen and her mother had been on the phone all morning after the terrorists attacked the outdoor event at 6:30 a.m. She told her mother that she was shot and bleeding before she was kidnapped. Three of Gonen’s friends were killed that day.

“We have a long way to go to learn each other’s place inside this new situation,” said Leshem Gonen. “We have to build our life, not going back to the life we had, but to enter a new phase.”

She said that once her daughter returned, “she clicked right back into place. Suddenly the energy inside the family was moving again.”

Leshem Gonen described her family as strong, adding that being together allowed them to endure the last 15 months. They talk and process what they’re going through, but it has shaken them all.

Leshem Gonen said that as she emerges from the struggle for her daughter, she is figuring out her role as a public figure, not as a politician but as a representative of the country’s moderate majority.

“If I have something to say I will say it, I can’t continue being silent,” said Leshem Gonen. “That’s what brought us to October 7th. We all have a responsibility to speak so that the voices in the middle are heard, and there are so many that are moderate.”

Meirav Leshem Gonen, whose daughter Romi Gonen was held hostage by Hamas, addresses a press conference in Tel Aviv on March 13, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)

She repeated her daughter’s recent statement that the most important task is to bring home the rest of the hostages.

When Romi speaks like that, said Leshem Gonen, she thinks about hostages Avinatan Or, Eitan Mor, Matan Zangauker and Eviatar David, naming some of the men still held in Gaza.

Leshem Gonen’s younger daughter is friends with hostage Eviatar David’s younger sister, a connection she views as being part of a “holy plan” to remember and vouch for one another.

Releasing every last hostage is of paramount importance, said Leshem Gonen, for the hostages themselves, their families and the already-freed captives.

“They won’t be able to heal if there are still people held in Gaza, suffering the way they suffered,” said Leshem Gonen.

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