Israeli former hostages Arbel Yehoud and Ariel Cunio have described severe abuse, isolation, and psychological pressure during their captivity in Gaza after they were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that launched the war, according to interviews broadcast in Israel and reported in British media.
Yehoud said she was held alone for much of her captivity by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and described repeated sexual assault and other mistreatment, including starvation, interrogations, and attempts to force her to convert. She also said she attempted to take her own life multiple times while in captivity. In one key moment, she said, her captors showed her aerial footage of demonstrations in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, where she recognized posters bearing her name and the names of people from her community. She described that image as a turning point that convinced her to keep going.
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Cunio, also held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said he spent long stretches in solitary confinement under harsh conditions, including a period in a cramped space above a store ceiling where he was forced to stay quiet to avoid being moved into Hamas-run tunnels. Both former captives said they were separated shortly after being taken into Gaza and were never allowed to see each other, even though they had been taken from the same home.
For a time, their captors passed letters and brief notes between them, providing limited contact and scraps of information. The messages later shrank to a sentence or two before the captors ended the exchanges altogether, according to the interviews.
Yehoud was released in late January 2025 after 482 days, during a truce that included staged handovers in southern Gaza. Cunio was freed in October 2025 under a separate deal.