Former Rahat mayor Ata Abu Madighem says rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi told him that a fellow captive died alongside him during his captivity.
The information could not immediately be verified and there was no comment from the IDF or from the Hostage Families Forum.
“He said that one of the hostages, who was with him for two months, died next to him,” Abu Madighem says in comments to the press broadcast on Channel 12 news after meeting with the rescued hostage in the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.
“This story is breaking his heart. He has many [terrible] memories. But ultimately, he is talking about being saved, rescued.”
Abu Madighem, speaking to Kan TV, says the hostage who died was a Jewish man.
Abu Madighem says he is not allowed to give more details.
The ex-mayor also says al-Qadi told him he was not given any kind of special treatment as a Muslim by his captors. “They treated him as an Israeli in every respect,” the ex-mayor recounts. The whole time he was held hostage, “he barely saw the sun.”
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