Former hostage Yosef-Chaim Ohana on Monday described one of the first “spontaneous” moments of torture during his captivity, when “some angry person entered the room, pulled a gun and yelled: ‘Tell me how many people you killed, now I'll kill you.'”
His comments came during an interview with N12, where he discussed his experiences for the first time since Hamas released him on October 12.
He recalls that when responding to the interrogation, “I told them, ‘Zero, zero.’" He then said, ‘Oh, you are lying to me too,’ and he came to shoot me. Someone else stopped him then and told him: ‘Not now,” he recalled.
On other occasions, Ohana explained, they would “sit us down and tell us that they were taking revenge for what Israel did,” just to create anxiety between the hostages.
“They would make us choose: who to kill and who to injure, making us draw lots for us,” he added.
During the interview he also recalled other details about his time in Gaza, his captors, and the torture that he had to endure.
Ohana describes Gaza tunnels
Ohana described one of the tunnels where they were held as a dark corridor, with nothing to see except for an LED lamp.
“When someone comes with a lamp, at first, there were periods when we waited for it, maybe they'll bring us a teapot or something. Later, that light became an ominous sign. Once they came, we greeted them, and they suddenly started beating us," Ohana described.
“Every time we saw headlights, we had a panic attack. No one knows what to do, 'Shall I stand?', 'Shall I sit?' 'Who will be the first to grab?'. We want to run as far inside as possible, but then we realize that it won't look good and that we have to spread out over the whole room," Ohana described.
He also talked about how he had to convince his terrorist captors not to kill him. “I already knew that I was important to them, why they kidnapped me, and that the fact that I was kidnapped made me an 'important card' for them,” he said.
“'What, now you take revenge on me so that your citizens will be satisfied, but what about the prisoners who are waiting to be released from prison in exchange for me, to go out and see their families? If I die, fewer prisoners will be released,’" he told his captors.