As Israel holds its breath for the return of the final two hostages, one of the former captives, thankfully freed alive, has detailed the brutal treatment dished out by Hamas.
Alon Ohel, who survived 738 days in Gaza after being abducted from the Nova Festival, told Channel 12 how his captors used sexual abuse and starvation as weapons against their victims.
"They would play with the amounts of food, and sexual harassment," he recounted.
"You go into the shower, and the terrorist comes to shampoo you. He puts shampoo in his hand and starts soaping you in the shower. He touches you.
"He said it was important to him that I shower well, so that I don't get rashes. Luckily, the sexual abuse didn't go further."
In the interview, he also described the terrifying moment he was first taken by the terror group on October 7.
"They threw me like a sack of potatoes into the pickup truck. I was in shock, and asked myself if I was dreaming.
"I saw someone jump from the pickup, and they took him apart. I told myself, 'No matter what, I choose life'.
"All of my hair was full of concrete from the shelter I was hiding in, and I was dripping endless blood with crazy amounts of pain in my head, shoulder, and eye. I couldn't see."
Alon almost lost the sight of one of his eyes after suffering a shrapnel wound during the attack.
But he said that, when he was taken to the hospital by his captors, he saw ordinary Gazans celebrating the massacres in Israel and assisting Hamas.
"You can't call them uninvolved, everyone there is involved," he claimed.
"I screamed to them that I could not see, and they took off my clothes while trying to make sure people did not come in."
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