Some released hostages were held in tunnels with no human contact for months, IDF says
Military doctor refuses to discuss possible torture or abuse to maintain their privacy; says hostages’ injuries were not properly treated, they bear signs of mild starvation

Some of the hostages released from Gaza during the ceasefire had been held in Hamas tunnels for up to eight months straight, deprived of daylight and with little to no human contact, an Israeli general said on Monday.
Three Israeli civilians and four soldiers — all women — have been released so far in the ceasefire, which began on January 19. In return, Israel has released 290 Palestinian convicts and detainees.
“Some of them told us that they’ve been in the past few months, that they’ve been through the entire time, in tunnels, underground,” the deputy chief of the Israeli military’s medical corps, Colonel Dr. Avi Banov, told journalists online.
“Some of them were alone through the entire time they were there,” he said. “Those who said they were together were in better shape.”
The military oversees the first health checks that the hostages receive upon their arrival in Israeli territory.
The hostages said their treatment improved in the days leading up to their release, Banov said, when they were allowed to shower and change their clothes and received better food. They appeared to be smiling in videos on the days of their release.

However, Eitan Gonen, father of Romi Gonen, 24, who was released last week, stressed that their smiles were not an indication they were being treated well by Hamas.
“The smiles aren’t a testament to the conditions they were under; they’re because of the [hostages’] joy that they’re no longer in the hands of the Nazis. If you were rescued from hell, and someone offered you a hand, wouldn’t you smile?” he told Walla on Monday.
Citing the hostages’ privacy, Banov would not say whether any of the seven hostages released since last week bore signs of torture or abuse.
Some had not received proper treatment for wounds sustained when they were captured during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and some showed signs of “mild starvation,” he said.
Among the hostages who were released recently, Emily Damari is missing two fingers as a result of being shot in her hand on October 7, and Daniella Gilboa still has a bullet in her leg that her aunt said will be removed in the near future.
The three civilians, released on the first day of the ceasefire, were discharged from hospital on Sunday. The four soldiers, freed in the ceasefire’s second swap on Saturday, were still being treated in another medical center.

Eitan Gonen told the Kan public broadcaster that “Romi is amazing. We met a mature, amazing woman who stunned us all.”
Gonen would not elaborate on her medical condition or details of her ordeal. But he said that while in captivity she had heard some of the radio interviews he had given.
“Even if only 10% of the interviews reach the hostages’ ears, it is enough to give them strength,” he said. “It gave her a lot of strength, energy and great hope.”
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
Twenty-six women, children, elderly, ill or injured hostages are still meant to be released in the next six weeks as part of the first phase of the ceasefire. Hamas provided a list late on Sunday detailing their condition.
Israeli authorities have said that they believe most due to be released in the first phase are alive and they fear for the lives of the rest. They have given no new details since receiving the list.
Banov said he expected that some of next hostages to be released “will be more ill and also people who have died during their time in Gaza.”