Hamas terrorist warned teen hostage not to escape–‘They hate you, you’ll be killed’

She described having to subsist on very little food, sometimes just one pita a day.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Hila Rotem Shoshani, the youngest of the freed Israeli hostages to speak publicly about her experience in captivity was warned by a terrorist guard not to escape because the Gazan civilians would have killed her anyway.

In an interview with The New York Times, Shoshani describes how she was brought into captivity with her mother Raaya Rotem, and her friend 8-year-old Emily Hand after hiding in a safe room in Kibbutz Be’eri.

After one of the terrorists who kidnapped them tore a stuffed animal out of her hands and threw it on the ground, she was taken with her mother and friend to a home in Gaza where they spent their captivity.

Hila Rotem Shoshani recounted at first the terrorist guarded them carefully, but after some time, he left them alone and remained in the living room, apparently unconcerned that they would escape.

Hila said, “They understood we’re not going to run away.”

She added, “Outside it’s dangerous too — why would we run?”

The guard even warned them in a cruel taunting way not to escape because if they did, they would likely be killed by Gazan civilians.

Hila recalled the guard saying “The people out there don’t like you, so you’ll be killed anyway.”

She described having to subsist on very little food, sometimes just one pita a day and some halva or beans.

On some days, there was no food at all and the family would keep it for themselves.

There wasn’t sufficient water and when she received some it was so dirty that Hila said that often she had to force herself to drink it even though she was quite thirsty.

The hostages had to ask permission to use the bathroom, which was consistent with Thomas Hand’s testimony that his daughter, Emily Hand who was freed with Hila, still asked permission to leave the room or use the restroom even after she was released.

Occasionally, the hostages were awakened at night and moved, a situation Hila described as terrifying.

They told us at first, ‘You’re moving to a safer place,” Hila said. “But we didn’t know if we would be killed.”

Hila and Emily had to remain silent and weren’t allowed to speak above a whisper.

The girls would keep occupied drawing pictures or playing cards, “but how much can you play cards, all day, every hour?” said Hila.