Freed hostage says she was abducted by civilians who sold her to Hamas terrorists
An Israeli nurse freed from Gaza captivity says she was actually abducted by Palestinian civilians who then sold her to Hamas terrorists.
Nili Margalit, 42, told Le Point that it was civilians brandishing Kalashnikovs who overran her home and snatched her from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the deadly Oct. 7 rampage.
“They negotiated with Hamas to sell me,” she told the French magazine.
“When they were paid, I was taken straight into a tunnel,” she said of the underground network that terrorists used to hold their hostages.
Margalit was finally freed eight weeks later as part of an agreement between Israel and Hamas. She is currently on a European tour to highlight the plight of the 133 Israelis still held in Gaza more than six months later.
Margalit recalled how on Oct. 7, she first heard alarms signaling incoming rockets blaring before dawn, and was hiding in her unlocked saferoom when the attackers ransacked her home.
“They exploded plates, turned the house upside down and started a fire,” she told the magazine.
The raiders then dragged the nurse out of her hiding spot, placed her on a golf cart beneath a white sheet, and whisked her to the border with Gaza, where Margalit said she was “sold” to Hamas. From there, she was driven to the city of Khan Yunis, where she said she heard cheers from crowds of people.
Once inside Gaza, Margalit was brought into what she described as a “reception room” within Hamas’ tunnel network, which held about 30 other hostages, including people from her kibbutz.
“I saw elderly people, children taken hostage,” Margalit told the magazine.
She was later taken to a dormitory for 10 hostages, where she said it felt like time stood still.
Margalit said she and her fellow captives were only given rice and bread to eat. She occupied her time by doing yoga and speaking to other hostages.
“There were shouting matches, crying, laughing, it’s normal when you put 10 people in the same room, we’re human! But we always supported each other,” she said.
Initially, the nurse said, she thought her captivity would last only two days.
“Then I understood that Israel would never pay for so many hostages,” Margalit said. “This depressed some of us. We had to hold on psychologically.”
