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| Ex-hostage says Hamas captors sprayed him in the face with pest spray, intentionally starved him |
| 2025-05-26 |
| [IsraelTimes] Freed hostage Omer Wenkert recalls the conditions of his captivity in Hamas’s tunnels worsening with the Israeli offensive on Rafah, in southern Gaza, in May 2024. “They intentionally starved me,” he tells the Bar Association conference, adding that he was fed half a pita a day for two or three weeks. “Around the entry to Rafah, [there was] intentional starvation, and intentional abuse,” he says. “They did things that seriously endangered my life, for fun.” “One of them brought insect repellent, stood me up at the end of the corridor, and sprayed me in the face, with my eyes open,” Wenkert recalls, adding that his captor ensured everything the captive would touch was also sprayed. “He also decided to hit me with an iron rod,” he adds. Wenkert says he was alone for six and a half months, saying his captors would “approach me once in a while.” He says that around the 80th day of his captivity, he was moved from one underground corridor to another, which he describes as “a dark room with a little lamp.” “They tried to drive me crazy — to damage my sense of time,” he says. “When they put down food for me, they told me to turn around, so they could leave. Bathing was once in 50 days, with a little bottle. Only after nine and a half months did I bathe for real.” The tunnel he was kept in for most of his captivity was “about 90 centimeters (35 inches) wide, and about 9-10 meters (29-32 feet) long,” with a hole as a bathroom, he recalls. “I was on a small mattress, with my back against the wall. I was there for 420 days, I think,” he says. On June 13, 2024, his captors brought fellow hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal to the same corridor in which Wenkert was kept. They are both still held in Hamas captivity, 597 days since their abduction on October 7, 2023. “My mental situation settled down [with their arrival], but it became more crowded; we split food and water, the physical conditions worsened — but the abuse stopped,” Wenkert says. Wenkert was released on February 22, 2025, after 505 days in Hamas captivity, as part of a hostage release, ceasefire, and prisoner release deal between Israel and the terror group that ultimately collapsed after its first phase. IDF strikes on Hamas compound nearly killed Edan Alexander in captivity, dad reveals [IsraelTimes] Less than a month before he was eventually released, bombing caved in tunnel where US-Israeli citizen was held, injuring him, though he managed to dig himself out, father says Related: Omer Wenkert 03/16/2025 ‘Hamas never stopped digging’: Ex-hostage warns tunnel network under Gaza still growing Omer Wenkert 03/12/2025 Freed hostage Omer Wenkert says he always knew when truce talks failed because captors would take it out on him Omer Wenkert 02/26/2025 Released hostage says Ben Gvir’s comments worsened conditions in captivity Related: Edan Alexander 05/21/2025 Israel will seize more of Gaza if Hamas doesn’t free hostages, IDF chief warns Edan Alexander 05/21/2025 PM recalls top members of Doha negotiating team, citing ‘Hamas refusal’ of hostage deal Edan Alexander 05/21/2025 US says it wants Gaza war to end, but denies threatening Israel if it doesn’t comply |
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