Father of Avinatan Or says son was handcuffed to cage for a year after escape attempt

15 October 2025, 12:26 pm

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Released hostage Avinatan Or (L) with an IDF officer after he was handed over after over two years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, October 13, (Israel Defense Forces)

Yaron Or says his son Avinatan Or was handcuffed to a cage for a year after he tried to flee from his captors in Gaza.

“Avinatan tried to escape from captivity, and then they beat him,” Yaron Or tells Kan radio. “He was handcuffed to the bars. It was a barred place 1.8 meters high, and the length of it was the length of the mattress, plus a little. You can call it a cage.”

Or says his son was in a tunnel the entire duration of his captivity. “They didn’t starve him, but the food was scarce. He is very thin,” Or says.

“Around him, there were all these guards whose relatives were killed by the IDF bombings. And I think that it’s simply a miracle that they didn’t harm him,” Or says.