5 hostage soldiers were held by senior Hamas terrorist, served as human shields — reports

Five soldiers abducted by Hamas to Gaza were held in the home of a senior official in the Palestinian terror group’s military wing, who was apparently using them as human shields, several Hebrew media outlets report.

Liri Albag, Daniela Gilboa, Karina Ariev, Naama Levy and Agam Berger — all recently freed as part of the current ceasefire deal — were reportedly held in an apartment. They described the Hamas figure as the most dominant in the apartment, issuing orders to others who were there. He would bring them food and make sure that they could shower, while “manipulating their feelings” and trying to get them to talk about intelligence the IDF had before the October 7, 2023, onslaught.

The soldiers reportedly said that whereas other terrorists who were guarding them treated the soldiers worse than they did civilian hostages they were guarding, the senior Hamas official played “the good cop” role while trying to draw from them information about IDF activity close to the border in the days before the mass invasion.

The freed captives are expected to be released tomorrow from the hospital for rehabilitation, except Berger, who was released after the others and will stay a few more days.