Former hostage Naama Levy says IDF airstrikes were the thing she feared most in captivity

Naama Levy, one of five IDF female surveillance soldiers released in the Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal back in January, tells the 1,500-odd crowd at Hostages Square that the thing she feared most in Gaza was the Israeli airstrikes.

“They come by surprise,” she says. “First you hear a whistle, pray it doesn’t fall on you, and then — the booms, a noise loud enough to paralyze you, the earth shakes.”

“I was convinced every single time that this was my end, and it’s also what put me in the most danger: one of the bombardments collapsed part of the house I was in,” she says. “The wall I was leaning on didn’t collapse, and that’s what saved me.”

“That was my reality, and now it’s their reality,” she says. “At this very moment, there are hostages who hear those same whistles and booms, shaking with fear. They have nowhere to run, just pray and cling to the wall in a horrible feeling of powerlessness.”

She says in her first few weeks in captivity, she was held alone, “just me and my captors, constantly on the run.”

“There were entire days without food and little water. One day, I had nothing left, not even water.”

“Fortunately, it started raining. My captors put a pot outside the house where I was held, and the rain filled it,” she says. “I drank that rain water, which was enough for a pot of rice. That’s what kept me going.”

She says that in captivity, she didn’t believe anyone could be aware of what the hostages were experiencing and still be willing to keep them in Gaza.

“But then the first hostages came back, and they said what was happening there,” she says. “They told the truth. That truth wasn’t enough.”