Children taken hostage by Hamas were “marked” by their captors with burns caused by red-hot motorcycle exhaust pipes, families of recently freed hostage children have revealed.
“They told us stories about what they experienced inside Gaza. The stories are horrible,” said Yaniv Yaakov, uncle of Yagil, 12, and Or, 16, two boys released this week as part of Israel’s ceasefire deal with Hamas.
“Every child that was kidnapped by Hamas was taken on a motorcycle and they took each child, they took their leg and put it in the exhaust of that motorcycle, so they have a burn and they will be marked if they run, if they escape, so that can find them,” Yaakov said during an interview, according to the Times of Israel.
Their nephews and other children held captive by the terrorists were also frequently moved from place to place and drugged to keep them complacent.
“They were treated very badly, but at least they are with us,” he said.
O Yaakov, 16, was one of the children “marked” by Hamas with burns caused by motorcycle exhaust. Courtesy Yagil Yaakov, 12, was released this week. Courtesy
Yagil and Or’s account was just one of many that emerged from relatives of children taken hostage by Hamas during its bloody October 7 attack on Israel. Of the more than 200 hostages, about 40 are believed to be children. So far, at least 32 children have been released.
The youngest, Kfir Bibas, 10 months old, died in Hamas captivity along with his mother and 4-year-old brother. The terrorist group claimed that they were killed by Israeli bombings.
Twelve-year-old Eitan Yahalomi was beaten by a mob of Gazans when he was first taken across the border from Israel, his aunt Deborah Cohen said, according to Reuters.
Meirav Tal reunites with his family after the release of Hamas prisoners.
The terrorists later forced him to watch graphic images of their massacres in Israel, Cohen said.
“Every time a child cried there, they threatened him with a gun to keep him quiet. “Once they arrived in Gaza, all the civilians, everyone beat them,” he said in an interview with the French media BFM TV.
“We’re talking about a 12-year-old boy,” he added.
The video shows Hamas terrorists during the October 7, 2023 raid on Israel. AP
Emily Hand, a 9-year-old girl who spent her captivity dodging homes in Gaza with her captors to avoid bombing, has spoken only in whispers since her return after being conditioned not to make noise.
“I had to put my ear close to his mouth to hear. In captivity, he was told not to make any noise. You can see the terror in his eyes,” his father, Thomas Hand, told CNN after his recent release.
Another girl detained with Emily, Hila Rotem Shoshani, 13, also speaks only softly, according to her family.
Kfir Bibas, just 10 months old, died in Hamas captivity, according to the terrorist group. via REUTERS Emily Hand, 9, shortly after meeting her father. She speaks in whispers after Hamas conditioned her to remain silent. via REUTERS A rescuer carries a child through the rubble of an air raid. AFP via Getty Images
Many children reported being kept underground in Hamas’s elaborate tunnel system during their captivity, where they subsisted on desperately small rations of rice and pita bread.
The ceasefire agreement began on November 24 after Hamas agreed to release 50 hostages in exchange for a four-day truce and the release of 150 Israeli prisoners.
Hamas was given the option to extend the ceasefire one more day for every 10 additional hostages released.
More than 100 hostages have since been freed and the truce is scheduled to end at 7 a.m. local time on Friday unless another agreement can be reached.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn