Torture, lice-ridden tunnels, salty water – freed hostages speak out

Sagui Dekel-Chen, Alexandre (Sasha) Troufanov and Iair Horn suffered unspeakable conditions in Hamas captivity.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Sagui Dekel-Chen, Alexandre (Sasha) Troufanov and Iair Horn, the three hostages freed Saturday, have begun revealing the unspeakable conditions in which they were held during 498 days of Hamas captivity, Channel 12 and Kan News reported Sunday.

The trio, who were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, were held almost the entire time in tunnels under Khan Yunis, only a few miles away from their point of capture.

The underground passages were moldy and infested with lice and bedbugs. The hostages were also given practically no food and only salty water to drink, which only increased their thirst.

Hamas suspected some of the men of being IDF soldiers, although all three men were over army age.

American-Israeli Dekel-Chen (36) underwent frequent interrogations to reveal intelligence that he did not have, and the results of the torture have left scars on his body, Channel 12 reported.

He was also shot in his right shoulder when Hamas forces overran Nir Oz and he went to fight the terrorists while leaving his pregnant wife and two young daughters inside their home’s safe room.

Dekel-Chen reported that he was completely cut off from all means of communication over these 16 months and lived with the constant thought that his family had been murdered in the kibbutz.

He was only informed that they were alive just before his release, including the fact that his wife had given birth to a third daughter some two months after his capture.

Russian-Israeli Alexandre (Sasha) Troufanov, 29, was shot in both legs and brutally beaten when captured by the terrorists.

Unlike the others, he was held alone his entire time in captivity, and learned to read and write Arabic as a means to keep busy.

He was only updated irregularly by his captors as to what was happening in the war but did hear on the radio that his mother and girlfriend, who had been captured along with him but whom he never saw, had been freed in the first deal with Hamas in November 2023.

Troufanov’s and Dekel-Chen’s wounds were left untreated the whole time in captivity, and it is likely that they will have to undergo surgery to repair their injuries.

Horn (46) lost several dozen kilograms during his time in captivity and did not receive regular medical treatment.

He had been kidnapped along with his brother, Eitan (37), who had come to the kibbutz for the Simchat Torah holiday that was being celebrated on October 7.

The brothers were at first held together but then were separated, and Horn does not know Eitan’s current condition.

The three hostages were exchanged for 369 Palestinian security prisoners, including 36 senior terrorists serving life sentences.

While the deal’s parameters were that 30 terrorists would be released for every male civilian, Israel also promised to release 1,000 Palestinians who were detained since the

October 7 Hamas-led invasion and did not participate in the day’s massacre of 1,200 people.

Some of this cohort are seemingly being freed every week, which is why the number of freed prisoners is so high.

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