Released hostage Ofer Calderon, top left, reunites with his children Rotem, Gaya, Erez and Sahar on February 1, 2025. Erez and Sahar were also abducted on October 7, 2023 and were freed in November 2023. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)
Recently freed hostage Ofer Calderon says he was “held in tunnels without seeing daylight, had no access to media, experienced severe hunger conditions, went entire months without showering or receiving proper care” during his captivity in Gaza.
Calderon says that “immediately after the first deal [in November 2023], the conditions of my captivity and those of many other hostages severely deteriorated and became brutal.”
“We must not stop the current deal and must continue working to free all the hostages,” he adds, in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“Hamas is a cruel enemy who will not hesitate to harm the hostages left behind. We must get everyone out as quickly as possible.”
Calderon was released on February 1 as part of the current ceasefire deal after spending 484 days as a hostage in Gaza.
Israeli Ofer Calderon who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023, walks next to Hamas gunmen before being handed over to the Red Cross in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 1, 2025. (Abdel Kareem)
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