Ex-hostage: ‘Hamas enjoyed hearing us begging for food’

“Hunger is a daily struggle because, beyond being hungry, you are also fighting for your life,” said Eliya Cohen.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News Staff

A former Israeli hostage recalled the sadism of his Hamas captors and enduring prolonged starvation, speaking in his first interview after being held in the Gaza Strip for some 16 months.

Eliya Cohen told Hebrew-language Channel 12 News that he suffered torture and maltreatment, including being chained up for nearly the entire duration of his captivity.

“You can deal with being humiliated, you can deal with being cursed at, you can deal with your legs being in chains,” he told Channel 12.

But Cohen stressed that being denied regular access to food was the most difficult part of his captivity.

“Hunger is a daily struggle because, beyond being hungry, you are also fighting for your life. Every night, you go to sleep thinking, ‘what am I going to do tomorrow to get that piece of pita bread?’”

Cohen said that his captors reveled in the hostages’ suffering.

“You find yourself begging — and they enjoy it,” Cohen said. “They know they are starving you.”

Cohen also said that on occasion, he could convince one of his captors to bring him extra food.

“I can’t describe that feeling when you suddenly manage to pull on his heartstrings and they quietly enter the room and bring you some pita, or chocolate bar or peanut butter bar,” Cohen recounted.

“It’s the best thing that has ever happened to you in your life at that moment, because you survived another day.”

Cohen was held alongside Or Levy and Eli Sharabi. A fourth hostage who is still in captivity, Alon Ohel, was also held with the group.

The emaciated appearances of Levy and Sharabi upon their release shocked millions, with President Donald Trump noting that they “looked like Holocaust survivors.”

Hamas realized that the obvious starvation of the hostages was bad publicity for the terror group, so they dramatically increased Cohen’s food rations shortly before his release, he said.

“Suddenly more food started coming in,” Cohen recalled, saying that he overheard Hamas members remarking that the freed captives’ emaciation had “made a stir.”