Freed hostage Eliya Cohen underwent surgery without anesthesia in Gaza — TV report

Eliya Cohen had surgery while in captivity to remove bullets with no anesthesia, according to details reported by Channel 12 news.

Cohen, who was freed yesterday from more than 500 days of captivity, spent some time in captivity with Almog Sarusi, who was murdered with five other hostages last August, the report says. He was later held in a tunnel with Alon Ohel, who is still held hostage, and Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, who were recently freed.

They were held chained up to each other, the report says. The report says that in the period before he was freed, Cohen was given a large amount of food to improve his appearance. They were also only unchained in recent weeks and had to “learn to walk again,” the report says.

Cohen and Sharabi would say kiddush on Friday nights even with no wine.

Cohen spoke to Ohel’s family soon after his return to Israel. He said it was very hard to leave Alon, and that Alon is now on his own.

Cohen has reportedly told his loved ones that he was in a tunnel that was bombed by the IDF and managed to just escape in time.