Female hostages are being held as slaves in Gaza, forced to prepare food they can’t eat, rescued captive says
The mother of a female Israeli soldier being held captive by Hamas says one of the freed hostages told her that her daughter and the other kidnapped women had been used as slaves to serve the terrorists inside luxury villas.
Shira Albag, whose 19-year-old daughter Liri Albag was kidnapped on Oct. 7, said she spoke to newly rescued hostage Noa Argamani to learn about what her daughter was going through, the Times of Israel reports.
“Noa said that they were slaves, and so were the [female soldiers], including Liri,” Shira said in a statement. “They cleaned the yard, did dishes and prepared food that they were not allowed to eat.”
The distressed mother said Liri and other female hostages had originally been held at a luxury villa before being moved into Hamas’ underground tunnel network as the IDF continued to advance in Gaza.
“There it’s much worse, there’s no fresh water, and not much food,” Shira said.
She added that inside the tunnels, hostages have no clean clothes, noting that they were only allowed to shower after a month in captivity.
Along with the account from Argamani, who was rescued in a daring raid on Saturday, other surviving hostages told Shira that the female captives all “cried on the 50th day [of captivity] that they miss their mothers.”
“I don’t want to imagine what they’re going through now,” Shira added.
Liri was among the five female soldiers seen in a sickening video of Hamas celebrating its assault on the Nahal Oz base outside the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7.
In the disturbing video, the women appeared handcuffed and pressed against a wall while still in their pajamas and surrounded by the bodies of their fallen comrades.
The terrorists could also be heard gloating and announcing their apparent plans to sexually assault the soldiers.
Liri and the four other female soldiers featured in the video are among the some 120 hostages who remain in Gaza more than eight months into the war.
While Israel believes that more than 70 of the hostages are alive, Osama Hamdan, a top Hamas official, claimed Thursday that “no one has any idea” how many hostages are still alive.
