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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| In Gaza tunnels, a hostage child found comfort in his former caregiver |
| 2023-11-29 |
| [IsraelTimes] Eitan Yahalomi, a 12-year-old boy from Nir Oz who was separated from his family on October 7 and abducted into Gaza alone, was able to find comfort once united with a familiar face in the depths of Hamas captivity: that of his former daycare teacher. Esther Yahalomi, the grandmother of the recently freed tween, says his first 16 days as a hostage were the toughest because he was left completely alone. “A month ago they moved him to a group of people from Nir Oz, and it was much easier for him there. His caregiver from preschool was there, and he was able to see familiar faces,” she tells Hebrew-language media outside the Tel Aviv hospital where he is recuperating. The grandmother says the boy appears to be thinner than normal, and will not smile or really even speak. “He’s very, very subdued. I think it’s going to take him some time. It’s going to take a lot of work to get him to a place where he is able to talk.” Aunt says Hamas forced 12-year-old hostage to watch videos of atrocities, aimed gun at him when he cried [IsraelTimes] The aunt of Eitan Yahalomi, 12, who was released from Gaza captivity last night, tells French TV that terrorists forced him to watch videos of the atrocities they carried out on October 7. She also says that any time a child in captivity cried "they threatened them with rifles to shut them up." Speaking to BFM, Devora Cohen says that "the Hamas terrorists forced him to watch films of the horrors, the kind that no one wants to see, they forced him to watch them.” She says the Hamas members were “monsters.” “When he arrived in Gaza, all the residents, everyone, beat him. He is a 12-year-old child,” she says. Yahalomi, who is a dual Israeli-French citizen, was initially taken captive with his mother and two sisters, but they managed to escape and ran away, returning to Israel, as Eitan was carried into Gaza on a moped. Separately, Eitan’s father, Ohad, who was shot in a gun battle with the Hamas terrorists, was also apparently taken captive to Gaza, where he remains. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |