- Hostages were scared they’d be killed when they were moved from the tunnels they were being held in.
- One hostage told her family they only realized they were being freed when they saw Red Cross buses.
- She said she knew there’d been a change in the war when the sound of Israel’s bombardment stopped.
A grandmother told her family that the Israelis being held hostage by Hamas thought they were about to be executed the night of their released, The Times of London reported.
Adina Moshe, who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza’s tunnels for 50 days, was freed in the first exchange of captives on Friday, alongside 12 other Israelis and 11 foreigners, as part of the four-day cease-fire brokered between Israel and Hamas.
Initial medical tests showed the hostages were in a good condition, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said.
Moshe, who is in her seventies, was dragged through the window of her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, according to The Times of Israel. Her husband was killed in front of her, the outlet reported.
Hostages and Missing Families Forum/Handout via REUTERS
Moshe said she knew there had been development in the war when the sound of explosions was replaced with silence on Friday, her niece, Mayan Moshe, told The Times.
When the hostages were led out of the tunnel, they feared they were about to be executed, Mayan Moshe said.
“Only when they saw the Red Cross buses did they realize they were being freed,” she said.
Moshe’s nephew, Ayan Nouri, said Hamas “kept up the terror to the end.”
Video footage on the Dailymail.com showed Hamas members and Red Cross workers leading Moshe and the other hostages out of buses during the first release of Israeli hostages on Friday.
Hamas released 13 Israeli and four Thai hostages on Saturday, the IDF said, in the second exchange of captives. The Israeli prison service announced it had released 39 Palestinian prisoners this morning, The Guardian reported.
