"Starved, threatened and abused: Parents of freed Hamas hostages give details of ordeal" - BBC News today'Parents of four young female Israeli hostages freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza have told the BBC about how their daughters were abused, including being starved, intimidated and threatened by armed men, and forced to cook and clean.They recounted how the hostages were held in underground tunnels and buildings, witnessed physical abuse and were made to participate in Hamas propaganda videos, including, in one case, by faking her own death.Three of the four women whose parents spoke to the BBC were female soldiers kidnapped by Hamas from the Nahal Oz army base near Gaza on 7 October 2023.The hostages' access to food and their treatment by male guards varied over the 15 months they were held, their parents said. They were moved between locations, rarely seeing sunlight."It was very different between the places that she went - it could be a good tunnel, it could be a very bad tunnel. It could be a good house or a bad house," said the father of Agam Berger, 20, a soldier who had been at Nahal Oz."They [and their captors] had to run away from one place to another because they are in a war zone there. It was very dangerous to be there," said Orly Gilboa, whose daughter Daniella was also kidnapped from the base.When Daniella watched the release of three male hostages last week - who came out thin and emaciated - she told her mother: "If I had been released two months ago I would have probably looked like them."Ms Gilboa says the hardest thing she endured was seeing a video that suggested her daughter had been killed. Her captors poured powder on her so she looked like she was covered in plaster, as if she was killed in an Israeli military strike.Mr Berger says his daughter, Agam, was threatened by her captors and witnessed physical abuse while in captivity."Sometimes they tortured other female hostages in front of her eyes," he says, referring specifically to an assault on Amit Soussana, a former hostage who was released in November 2023.Mr Berger says his daughter told him how they were constantly watched over by armed men, "playing all the time with their guns and their hand grenades".He says the male captors treated the women with "big disrespect", including forcing them to clean and prepare food.Some of the places had good food, some had "very bad food... they just tried to survive," Shlomi Berger said'.Oh those brave Palestinian freedom fighters !Probably a bit nervous now Trump is getting involved.And by the way, does any poster on this Forum know if there will be a Palestine support march in London tomorrow and if so are they going ?
John Hawkes ● 83d