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Freed Israeli Hostages: What They Endured in Captivity and How They Survived

Michie

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With the January 2025 hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas underway, details are emerging about the horrific conditions endured by freed hostages during their 470-plus days of captivity.

Three civilian women released on January 19—Emily Damari, 28; Romi Gonen, 24; and Doron Steinbrecher, 31—have been discharged from medical care and are recovering at home, while four female soldiers—Karina Ariev, 20; Daniella Gilboa, 20; Naama Levy, 20; and Liri Albag, 19—freed on January 25 remain hospitalized. Three Israeli hostages were released on January 30, including female soldier Agam Berger, 20; and civilians Arbel Yehoud, 29; and Gadi Moses, 80.

Below are the profiles of the freed hostages and the known hardships they endured during their 15-months of captivity.

Continued below.
 
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Fantine

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The final song of "Hamilton" is "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story."

May we continue to hear the stories of the hostages, political prisoners, refugees and survivors in Israel and Gaza. May they give Israelis and Palestinians the determination to work for peace and vote out those who seek war.

Almost every Palestinian who is being "blamed" for the actions of people who were voted to lead Gaza before he was even born (half Gaza's population is under 18) has not had the opportunity to vote since 2005.

Israelis have regular votes, and, to their credit, they seem to have been struggling mightily to oust their brutal dictator, Netanyahu. He is under indictment and surviving only by piecing together coalitions. It is Israeli determination to oust Netanyahu that shows the goodness of the Israeli people, who deserve better.

I have the TV on now, watching caravans of Gaza residents hiking through rubble back to their (probably destroyed) "homes" in the north, looking exhausted with all their earthly possessions on their back.

That anyone can blame them disgusts me.
 
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Friedrich Rubinstein

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I have the TV on now, watching caravans of Gaza residents hiking through rubble back to their (probably destroyed) "homes" in the north, looking exhausted with all their earthly possessions on their back.

That anyone can blame them disgusts me.
Very much like the German civilians in the rubble of Nazi Germany after the US and its allies flattened entire cities, killing tens of thousands of innocent people. It is always the general population that pays the heaviest price, but if we don't want to allow evil, genocidal dictatorships like Hamas or the Nazis to run rampant, we need to be willing to do what is necessary.
 

ralliann

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Very much like the German civilians in the rubble of Nazi Germany after the US and its allies flattened entire cities, killing tens of thousands of innocent people. It is always the general population that pays the heaviest price, but if we don't want to allow evil, genocidal dictatorships like Hamas or the Nazis to run rampant, we need to be willing to do what is necessary.
Yes to this!
I thought I heard Trump saying the other day, he thinks he can get Egypt to take some in. That would be fantastic. I would love to see the Arab nations take them in as well. After all Palestinians are their people to begin with.
 
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Fantine

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You forget that Israel was their homeland for many generations. After the holocaust, Israel was established in 1948, but the Palestinians stayed. In 1967, Israel had its six day war--more than doubling the land that was originally granted to them.
I understand and appreciate why Israel was established, but their seizing more land in 1967, and their general acts of prejudice and discrimination against Palestinians is wrong. The least they should do is be good neighbors.
 
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ralliann

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You forget that Israel was their homeland for many generations.
They lived on the land for many generations, as have others.
After the holocaust, Israel was established in 1948, but the Palestinians stayed.
Both received land by those who owned the land
In 1967, Israel had its six day war--more than doubling the land that was originally granted to them.
Because they were attacked. So the land once again was won by war. It was always how the land was "owned". Owned through war.
I understand and appreciate why Israel was established, but their seizing more land in 1967, and their general acts of prejudice and discrimination against Palestinians is wrong.
They did not seize the land. A war was started and Israel was attacked.. But Israel fought and won more land.
The least they should do is be good neighbors.
They never had "good" neighbors. From the river to the sea is all they heard. Nations round about them have softened on this, but not Palestinian governments.. I hope some nations around take them in and stop the killing of children and civilians. This is all on Hamas.
 

Vambram

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The truth of their captivity sounds a lot less brutal than the western propaganda spreading in the past.
The harsh treatment of the hostages savagely captured by the Hamas terrorists is indeed very brutal. I don't know why you appear to be implying otherwise.
 
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timewerx

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The harsh treatment of the hostages savagely captured by the Hamas terrorists is indeed very brutal. I don't know why you appear to be implying otherwise.

"A lot less brutal" isn't an implication that things aren't brutal nor very brutal. And to prevent further misinterpretation of my posts, I do acknowledge their conditions as very brutal, and extremely difficult.
 
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Palmfever

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You forget that Israel was their homeland for many generations. After the holocaust, Israel was established in 1948, but the Palestinians stayed. In 1967, Israel had its six day war--more than doubling the land that was originally granted to them.
I understand and appreciate why Israel was established, but their seizing more land in 1967, and their general acts of prejudice and discrimination against Palestinians is wrong. The least they should do is be good neighbors.
Gaza not a new area of conflict Many have governed the area.
... A city which would become present-day Gaza began to develop on the site of Tell al-Ajjul. This city served as Egypt’s administrative capital in Canaan, and was the residence of the Egyptian governor of the region. A caravan point of strategic importance from the earliest times, it was constantly involved in the wars between Egypt and Syria and the Mesopotamian powers. For instance, Egyptian pharaoh Ahmose I completed his victory over the Hyksos by conquering their stronghold Sharuhen near Gaza after a three-year siege. In addition, Gaza appeared frequently in Egyptian and Assyrian records. Under Tuthmosis III, it is mentioned on the Syrian-Egyptian caravan route and in the Amarna letters as “ḫazzatu”. However, Gaza was in Egyptian hands for 350 years, until it was settled by the Philistines, a seafaring people with cultural links to the Aegean, in the 12th century BCE, following their defeat against Ramesses III. It then became a part of the pentapolis; a league of the Philistines’ five most important city-states.

The Hebrew Bible mentions the Avvites occupying an area that extended as far as Gaza, and that these people were dispossessed by the Caphtorites from the island of Caphtor (modern Crete). Some scholars speculate that the Philistines were descendants of the Caphtorites.

Gaza is also mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the place where Samson was imprisoned and met his death. The prophets Amos and Zephaniah are believed to have prophesied that Gaza would be deserted. According to biblical accounts, Gaza fell to Israelite rule, from the reign of King David in the early 11th century BCE. When the United Monarchy split in about 930 BCE, Gaza became a part of the northern Kingdom of Israel. When the Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser III and Sargon II around 730 BCE, Gaza came under Assyrian rule. In the 7th century, it again came under Egyptian control, but during the Persian period (6th–4th centuries BCE) it enjoyed a certain independence and flourished. In 601/600 BCE, Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II was defeated against the Egyptian army under pharaoh Necho II at Migdol near Gaza; however, it was captured by him during his second unsuccessful campaign to invade Egypt in 568 BCE. In 529 BCE, Cambyses I unsuccessfully attacked Gaza and later, around 520 BCE, the Greeks established a trading post in Gaza. The first coins were minted on the Athens model around 380 BCE....

... In the Acts of the Apostles, Gaza is mentioned as being on the desert route from Jerusalem to Ethiopia. The Christian gospel was explained to an Ethiopian eunuch along this road by Philip the Evangelist, and he was baptised in some nearby water.

Gaza was granted to Herod the Great by Roman emperor Augustus in 30 BCE, where it formed a separate unit within his kingdom; and Cosgabar, the governor of Idumea, was in charge of the city’s affairs. On the division of Herod’s kingdom, it was placed under the proconsul of Syria. After Herod’s death in 4 BCE, Augustus annexed it to the Province of Syria. In 66 CE, Gaza was burned down by Jews during their rebellion against the Romans. However, it remained an important city; even more so after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus the following year. Titus passed through Gaza on his march toward to Jerusalem, and again in his return. The establishment of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea restored trade links with Petra and Aila.

Throughout the Roman period, Gaza was a prosperous city and received grants and attention from several emperors. A 500-member senate governed Gaza, and a diverse variety of Philistines, Greeks, Romans, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Jews, Egyptians, Persians and Bedouin populated the city. Gaza’s mint stamped out coins adorned with the busts of gods and emperors, including Gordian III. During his visit in 130 CE, Emperor Hadrian, who favored Gaza, personally inaugurated wrestling, boxing and oratorical competitions in Gaza’s new stadium, which soon became known from Alexandria to Damascus The city was adorned with many pagan temples—the main cult being that of Marnas. Other temples were dedicated to Zeus, Helios, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena and the local deity Tyche.

The spread of Christianity in Gaza was initiated by Philip the Arab around 250 CE; first in the port of Maiuma, but later into the city. In 299, an unverified number of local Christians who assembled in Gaza to hear the Scriptures read were seized and mutilated by the Romans.[20] Also, its Christians were harshly repressed during the Diocletianic Persecution in 303. The first bishop of Gaza was Philemon, believed to have been one of the 72 disciples, but the first cleric was Saint Silvanus who, during the persecution by Maximinus Daia in 310, was arrested along with about 30 other Christians, and condemned to death...
 
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Fantine

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Very much like the German civilians in the rubble of Nazi Germany after the US and its allies flattened entire cities, killing tens of thousands of innocent people. It is always the general population that pays the heaviest price, but if we don't want to allow evil, genocidal dictatorships like Hamas or the Nazis to run rampant, we need to be willing to do what is necessary.
Just war theory, embraced by Catholicism and perhaps other Christian sects, states specifically that civilians, especially children, should not be harmed and that the amount of force used should be proportional. Israel fails monumentally on both counts.
God loves all his children. He loves the Palestinians. I agree with the Hague. Netanyahu is a war criminal.
 
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Vambram

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Just war theory, embraced by Catholicism and perhaps other Christian sects, states specifically that civilians, especially children, should not be harmed and that the amount of force used should be proportional. Israel fails monumentally on both counts.
God loves all his children. He loves the Palestinians. I agree with the Hague. Netanyahu is a war criminal.
The war criminals in this war are the Hamas savages who started this war. Hamas has been savagely attacking Israel for decades with countless rockets and missiles targeting Israeli civilians. If Mexico or Canada was doing this against the USA for more than a decade, what response would you have suggested that our nation do?
 
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Fantine

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The war criminals in this war are the Hamas savages who started this war. Hamas has been savagely attacking Israel for decades with countless rockets and missiles targeting Israeli civilians. If Mexico or Canada was doing this against the USA for more than a decade, what response would you have suggested that our nation do?
Here is a pretty exhaustive essay on just war theory. The beginning goes through the history of just war theory. The specific conditions that must be met can be found towards the end, so feel free to scroll

Christian theory of the Just War begins around the time of Augustine of Hippo.[24] The Just War theory, with some amendments, is still used by Christians today as a guide to whether or not a war can be justified. Christians may argue "Sometimes war may be necessary and right, even though it may not be good." In the case of a country that has been invaded by an occupying force, war may be the only way to restore justice. [25] Just war theory - Wikipedia

Contemporary Catholic doctrine​

[edit]
The just war doctrine of the Catholic Church found in the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 2309, lists four strict conditions for "legitimate defense by military force:"[38][39]

  • The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave and certain.
  • All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective.
  • There must be serious prospects of success.
  • The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church elaborates on the just war doctrine in paragraphs 500 to 501, while citing the Charter of the United Nations:[40]

If this responsibility justifies the possession of sufficient means to exercise this right to defense, States still have the obligation to do everything possible "to ensure that the conditions of peace exist, not only within their own territory but throughout the world". It is important to remember that "it is one thing to wage a war of self-defense; it is quite another to seek to impose domination on another nation. The possession of war potential does not justify the use of force for political or military objectives. Nor does the mere fact that war has unfortunately broken out mean that all is fair between the warring parties".


I think I hold the moral high ground here.
 
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Friedrich Rubinstein

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Just war theory, embraced by Catholicism and perhaps other Christian sects, states specifically that civilians, especially children, should not be harmed and that the amount of force used should be proportional. Israel fails monumentally on both counts.
God loves all his children. He loves the Palestinians. I agree with the Hague. Netanyahu is a war criminal.
There is no such thing as not harming civilians in war. That is an unrealistic delusion disconnected from reality. There is even less of a chance of that in Gaza where Hamas is actively doing everything they can to maximize civilian death on their own side. How do you fight a terrorist group who prevents their own civilians from evacuating, hides in hospitals, schools, mosques, and civilian homes, and fires at Israelis from within the IDF-designated safe zones?

"Proportional response" is not what you seem to think it is. The idea of "proportional" is NOT "you murdered 1,200 of us, now we get to kill 1,200 of yours". A "proportional response" means achieving the military objective in the least life-costly manner. After what Hamas did on Oct 7th (and their promise to repeat such attacks against Israeli civilians over and over and over again) it is clear that Hamas cannot remain the governing force in Gaza, and they cannot remain a military threat to anyone around them. Israel has pursued these objectives while doing more than any other military in all of history to minimize unnecessary civilian deaths. Much more than the US military has ever done in any of its wars - be it WWII, the Vietnam war, the Iraq war or the Afghanistan war. The IDF gave up the element of surprise in order to allow civilians to evacuate in time by dropping hundreds of thousands of leaflets, showing where the IDF will operate next and thus letting Hamas know as well. Israel placed millions of phone calls and text messages to civilians to ask them to evacuate certain areas. They set up routes to get there and implemented fire pauses for the civilians to move (never mind that Hamas attacked these routes and killed some of their own people).

If Netanyahu is a war criminal then so are all the US presidents who presided over any of the wars the US has waged in its history. That's a lot of war criminals in your White House. In the Vietnam war alone the US army committed more than 300 confirmed war crimes. Why is it that you hold Israel to a different standard? Why is Israel not allowed to remove the threat that Hamas poses to her civilians? Why is it that Israel has to endure decades of terrorism and isn't allowed to fight back, and if they fight back they are not allowed to win?

And why is it that you apparently think Israel isn't following the law of war (even though they are), but you conveniently forget to mention that Hamas has been failing to obide by ANY laws since the beginning of this war? Hamas is holding hostages (a war crime), Hamas is fighting in civilian clothes instead of their uniforms (a war crime), Hamas is fighting from within populated areas (a war crime), Hamas is hiding in and under protected buildings like hospitals (a war crime), Hamas is stealing the aid that is meant for the Palestinian civilians (a war crime), Hamas is firing rockets indiscriminately in the direction of Israeli cities and villages (a war crime), the list goes on.

And lastly, what point do you think you are making by saying that God loves the Palestinians? Did God not love the Amorites? Did God not love the Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amalekites? Just because God loves people doesn't mean that they can terrorize the Israelites back then or the Israelis today. The God of Deuteronomy 7 is the same God today. Nothing about God has changed.
 
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Vambram

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Here is a pretty exhaustive essay on just war theory. The beginning goes through the history of just war theory. The specific conditions that must be met can be found towards the end, so feel free to scroll




I think I hold the moral high ground here.
Hamas has repeatedly demonstrated multiple times that they have absolutely refused to live in peace with Israel. What is your moral position about that?
 
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Vambram

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I supported a proportionate response that protected innocent civilians, women, and children--because that is what God commands.
In a perfect world, the evil and savage Hamas would not have been hiding in the cities amongst innocent civilians.
 
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Michie

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In a perfect world, the evil and savage Hamas would not have been hiding in the cities amongst innocent civilians.
Hamas care nothing for their own people. That’s been shown over and over again.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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You forget that Israel was their homeland for many generations. After the holocaust, Israel was established in 1948, but the Palestinians stayed. In 1967, Israel had its six day war--more than doubling the land that was originally granted to them.
I understand and appreciate why Israel was established, but their seizing more land in 1967, and their general acts of prejudice and discrimination against Palestinians is wrong. The least they should do is be good neighbors.
Sure, go shake hands with with your neighbor, they have a special jacket. Plastique is all the rage nowadays.
 
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Friedrich Rubinstein

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I supported a proportionate response that protected innocent civilians, women, and children--because that is what God commands.
Is that so? Would you please take a look at how God commanded the Israelites to wage war? God is not a pacifist, and he doesn't subscribe to your "just war" theory. Do you think you are more moral than God?
 
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