Ex-hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana and other captives spent several days standing in a pit, unable to sit or lie down, father says

After the latest hostage deal was reached, Yosef-Haim Ohana, one of the former hostages released on Monday, spent several days in a pit underground with another six captives, unable to sit or lie down, with barely enough air to survive, according to his father, Rabbi Avi Ohana.

“[Their captors] put seven men in a pit,” he tells Kan Moreshet radio. “They could not sit, only lean against the wall while standing. He lacked oxygen. I thank God, who made him strong. What kept him going was his family.”

According to additional excerpts of the interview quoted by Haredi media, during captivity at some point Hamas terrorists gave Ohana and another hostage a little radio that would allow them to listen to the Quran but they managed to tune the device to Israel’s Army Radio station instead, and Yosef heard his father being interviewed.

“He said to himself, ‘My father is alive! He is waiting for me!’ and it gave him new life,” the rabbi shares.