Doron Steinbrecher survived a brutal Hamas kidnapping in Kfar Aza and 471 days in Hamas captivity.

By World Israel News Staff

Former Hamas hostage Doron Steinbrecher spoke about her harrowing abduction from her home in Kfar Aza on October 7, describing how she hid under her bed when she heard gunfire and realized her kibbutz had been invaded by terrorists from the Gaza Strip.

Steinbrecher, who was held captive for 471 days in Gaza, was released alongside other female civilian captivess in a ceasefire and hostage deal in February 2025.

“I pushed the refrigerator against the door to block it. Then the terrorists came in through the window. I crawled under the bed — my heart was pounding, my stomach was in knots. I covered my mouth with my hand, praying they wouldn’t find me and would just leave,” Steinbrecher recalled to the Hebrew-language outlet Mako.

Hamas terrorists then entered Steinbrecher’s apartment and began shooting at the bed.

“I thought, okay — they shot, but maybe they’ve left. But they didn’t. They lifted the bed and saw me hiding underneath,” Steinbrecher recounted.

“At that point, I was still trying to fight, trying to stall for time. I screamed, hoping someone might hear me. But then I realized — I was on my way to Gaza. I understood they were kidnapping me.”

She described a nightmarish scene outside of her apartment, with dozens of terrorists swarming the kibbutz and abducting residents from their homes.

“I saw a convoy of terrorists… they shoved me into a van — we ran fast, and they pushed me inside. I was in the back, with a terrorist on each side and two more in front,” she said.

“There was screaming, chaos: ‘Come on, come on. Go, go.’ They took selfies with me, shouting, ‘We got her,’ with their weapons pointed at me.”

Since her release from Gaza, Steinbrecher has publicly advocated for a comprehensive hostage deal and ceasefire.

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Steinbrecher: “In captivity, I had no hope, but in the end, I came back … There can’t be a reality where they don’t come back. It doesn’t make sense.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Freed hostage Doron Steinbrecher shared the chilling story of her abduction on October 7th and how she narrowly missed getting shot in the head before she was kidnapped from her home in Kfar Aza.

In a candid interview with Yedioth Ahronot, Steinbrecher recalls that morning when she heard gunfire in the kibbutz and immediately hid under the bed.

She vividly recalled the sounds of the terrorists, their footsteps, shouting in Arabic, then the crash of breaking glass.

While speaking to her mother on the phone, she heard them shout, “Iftah al-Bab!”—“Open the door!” Then she realized they had broken a window.

Moments later, a terrorist entered the bedroom and scanned the room. He initially believed it was empty. But suspicion returned when they noticed the refrigerator had been pushed against the door.

He fired a shot at the bed, narrowly missing her. Then they lifted the mattress. There was nowhere left to hide.

With her hands raised in a gesture of surrender, four armed terrorists pulled Steinbrecher away from her home.

“They grabbed my hand, put me on a shelf, and we exited through the window,” she recalled.

Outside, fear gripped her as she realized she was being taken to Gaza. She tried to resist, to buy time, to hope that someone would intervene, but no one came.

“On the way to Gaza, I simply switched off in my mind,” she said. “I shut myself down and said, ‘Alright, there’s nothing you can do about this … just survive.’”

Now free, Steinbrecher remains haunted by the experience but determined to speak out. Reflecting on those still held captive, she urged action on releasing the hostages and recalled her own feelings of hopelessness.

“In captivity, I had no hope, but in the end, I came back … There can’t be a reality where they don’t come back. It doesn’t make sense.”

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Ex-hostages recount starvation and torture, beg President Trump not to give up on those still held by Hamas in Gaza.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Omer Shem Tov and other former Hamas hostages who were freed during a recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas called on President Donald Trump to push for a new deal that would secure the release of the remaining captives in Gaza.

“A few days after I was released, I had the honor of meeting President Trump in his office,” Shem Tov said during the press conference in Tel Aviv on Monday evening. “I told him then, and I believe it with all my heart: He was sent by God to help save us.”

Shem Tov urged Trump to “use every tool, with everything you have, bring the rest back. Every day matters. Every life matters.”

“Even for those of us who made it home, the feeling can never be complete while others are still left behind,” he said.

Ex-hostage Keith Siegel echoed Shem Tov’s call, focusing on the horrors he endured during his time in captivity.

In a harrowing statement, Siegel recounted surviving “starvation, dehydration, relentless humiliation.” adding that he “witnessed sexual assault… I saw acts of medieval torture that still haunt me.”

Doron Steinbrecher, who was one of the first three female hostages freed in January 2025, recalled being “trapped in the dark, suffocating tunnels with no daylight, no sense of time, no insurance I would survive another day.”

Addressing Trump, she said, “Please don’t stop. Continue to fight for them, just as you fought for me. Continue to be their voice, just as you gave me mine.”

Naama Levy, a female soldier whose kidnapping on October 7 is one of the most recognizable images from the atrocities that day, said that Trump achieved “what many thought was impossible.” Addressing the president, she said, “We, the survivors, know you are a decisive and irreplaceable force saving lives.”

“Mr. President, please, help bring them home,” she begged.

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Doron Steinbrecher, in her first video since her release on January 19th, noted the contrast with the Hamas propaganda video she was forced to appear in: “I am no longer blonde, and I won’t wear pink anymore.”

The post WATCH: Freed hostage Doron Steinbrecher, ‘I am no longer Hamas’s captive and I am home’ appeared first on World Israel News.

The Red Cross completely dismissed their plea to get vital medicine to the hostages.

By JNS

CNN anchor Jake Tapper interviewed Dor Steinbrecher, the brother of hostage Doron Steinbrecher, a nurse and veterinarian from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, who told him that a Red Cross worker had dismissed a concern from their mother for needed medication, rebuking the family that they should be more concerned about Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, Steinbrecher described his 30-year-old sister’s experience on the morning of Oct. 7. He told Tapper how she called their mother and cried, saying she was lying under her bed in a safe room after attempting to barricade the door. “She thought it would be enough; it wasn’t,” Dor said.

“Have you any evidence that she’s still alive? Are there photographs or other hostages that have been freed who saw her?” Tapper asked.

“No, unfortunately, no,” answered Dor, who lives outside the kibbutz. “All the hostages who came back, no one [has seen] her in Gaza. We didn’t have any sign of life for her.”

Tapper responded, “Well, that doesn’t mean she’s not alive … they’re all separated. Your sister takes medication daily, and I know your parents reached out to the Red Cross to help ensure that she’s able to get that medication. What did the Red Cross have to say?”

Dor said that his sister needs her medication daily and suspected that she has not taken it since Oct. 7. “My mom had a few minutes with the Red Cross and she told them my sister need[s] to get her medicine. And they told her that we should care more about Arab people on the other side.”

Tapper asked to clarify the Red Cross statement saying that the Steinbrecher family “should care more about the people in Gaza.”

Dor responded: “Yeah. And less about our beloved one who didn’t get her medicine.”

Tapper then sought to confirm the story, saying “Wait a second. So your sister takes medication every day. She was taken hostage. She’s a civilian; she was taken hostage by Hamas three months and a few days ago. … And your parents told this to the Red Cross in the hope they would be able to get the medication to her. … And their response was, ‘You should be more concerned about the people of Gaza?’”

Dor affirmed Tapper’s summary, prompting the CNN anchor to say, “That’s shocking,” leaving himself speechless for a moment.

Tapper concluded the interview on another note, asking Dor for his message to individuals around the world, particularly in the United States, who tear down posters of the hostages.

“I want them to know not just about my sister, each one of the hostages in Gaza, they are just citizens, most of them pulled out of their beds on Saturday morning, and taken to Gaza, with no reason,” Dor said before he paused for a moment. “I want them to try and imagine that all of the hostages in Gaza—the babies, the woman, the grandfathers—it’s their family members, their family beloved ones which need their help. And then think about why they did with the hostages posters.”

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