15 days after she was released from captivity by Hamas, Chen Goldstein-Almog was interviewed today (Monday) for the first time about the 51 days she spent with her three children, Agam, Gal, and Tal in the Gaza Strip by Khan Reshst Bet.
In the interview, she recalled the difficult days she and her family had gone through and told about the difficult evidence of sexual abuse that she heard from the hostages.
"As soon as we were kidnapped from Kfar Gaza, my children and I realized that my husband, Nadav, and my eldest daughter, Yam, had been murdered. Some of us had our backs, but we all passed by him when he stayed there and did not say goodbye. We realized it was already there on the way. When they took us, I told the children, 'Yam is surely not with us anymore.'.
And also Nadav, it was a point-blank range shot to the chest. It turns out that they were there for a few more days in the house until it was even possible to come and rescue them," said Chen.
"We were together all the time," she said. "It turned out later that not just one person from our captivators, but more, were in the raid on our house. There was more emotional suppression throughout our time there. We took time off, there were big breaks between meals, and sometimes we felt a little hungry."
"For a month and a half we were in a central apartment that also has a phone line," Chen added. "Then there was any loss of control. We felt that they were also powerless. The attacks increased to the point that the apartments we are in are taking a blast. And a more intensive transfer of places began."
"There was one threat once, something didn't seem right to them in the way I was walking around or free, in the first apartment we arrived at and there was some kind of threat that I might be handcuffed, but that didn't happen," she said. "That was the only time I was threatened with such a thing."
Later in the interview, Chen confirms the rumors that everyone was afraid of: "We heard from a first source about three cases of sexual assault," said Goldstein-Almog. "Things that happened a few weeks after the stay in Gaza. They are physically injured. With the way they sexually assaulted them and desecrated their bodies - they don't know how they will cope. If they had been released earlier, it would have saved them. We also saw a guy who was beaten."
In preparation for the release, the terrorists manipulated them over and over again and every day they were told that today they would be released, although in practice they were released only after three days: "Until the moment we actually left, we didn't want to be happy so as not to be disappointed. We suffered a lot of disappointments throughout our stay there," Chen said...
"The girls who were with us provided us with a lot of messages for their families and I'm sure they had hard feelings that they're still staying. Hanukkah has arrived and they're not here yet, it's discouraging and frustrating," she concluded.
