EGN NEWS DESK
For two months firstly of his captivity in Gaza, militants certain Andrey Kozlov’s fingers and toes, leaving marks on his physique. They tried to persuade him that the skin world, together with his mother and father, had given up on him.
“Your mother is on trip in Greece,” the militants advised him. “Your mother doesn’t find out about you in any respect and doesn’t wish to know.”
The account of Mr. Kozlov’s eight months in captivity, associated by his mother and father in an interview, emerged after he and three different hostages had been rescued by Israeli commandos on Saturday in central Gaza, in an operation that left scores of Palestinians dead. The particulars provided extra indications that militants in Gaza had been mistreating hostages, after individuals who had been launched final November throughout a brief cease-fire recounted present process bodily, emotional and even sexual abuse.
The dangerous rescue lifted the general public’s temper in Israel and prompted spontaneous celebrations, but it surely additionally underscored the plight of greater than 100 different dwelling and dead hostages nonetheless caught in Gaza.
“He mentioned it was very tough,” mentioned his mom, Evgeniia Kozlova, who, alongside along with his father, Mikhail Kozlov, spoke to The New York Times this week in Tel Aviv. “It’s very onerous to place into phrases.”
Hamas has mentioned that it treats hostages nicely in contrast with Israel’s remedy of Palestinian prisoners, a declare that Israeli officers vehemently dispute. In an obvious effort at psychological warfare, his captors advised Mr. Kozlov, 27, a Russian-Israeli, that the Israeli authorities had concluded that the hostages had been a burden, Ms. Kozlova mentioned.
“They had been telling Andrey to be very quiet as a result of they, the hostages, are an issue for Israel,” she mentioned. “They mentioned Israel can resolve this downside any approach it needs, together with killing the hostages so that they don’t have to consider them anymore.”
The militants’ claims had an impact on Mr. Kozlov — a lot in order that when Israeli forces arrived in a civilian neighborhood in central Gaza to rescue him, she mentioned, he was initially unsure if that they had come to avoid wasting or kill him.
Since the beginning of the struggle, Israeli forces have rescued solely seven of the some 250 individuals who had been kidnapped to Gaza throughout the Oct. 7 Hamas-led assaults on southern Israel. (More than 100 hostages had been launched in November as part of a short-lived cease-fire; a minimum of a 3rd of the 120 captives or so who stay in Gaza are dead, in response to the Israeli authorities) Last week’s rescue operation additionally resulted within the deaths of greater than 200 Palestinians, lots of whom had been civilians, in response to the Gazan well being authorities.
Israel has criticized Hamas for holding hostages in civilian areas. Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, mentioned on Sunday that the group had tried to distance civilians from the battle. But Hamas has taken benefit of the city areas in Gaza to supply its fighters and weapons infrastructure an additional layer of safety, working tunnels below neighborhoods, organising rocket launching pads close to civilian properties and holding hostages in metropolis facilities.
Unlike different hostages, Mr. Kozlov was by no means introduced into Gaza’s huge subterranean tunnel community and was advised by his guards that his circumstances had been significantly better than these of different hostages, his mom mentioned. He obtained meals all through his captivity, but it surely was usually easy objects like pita bread, cheese and tomatoes, she mentioned.
During his captivity, Mr. Kozlov solely went exterior at night time when he was being moved to a brand new location, his mom added. He was transferred a number of instances all through the struggle, she mentioned.
Mr. Kozlov, Andrey’s father, mentioned that when he and his spouse mentioned months in the past whether or not they most popular their son be rescued in a army operation or freed by means of a diplomatic settlement, they each favored an settlement. But as no deal materialized, he mentioned, they wished him introduced dwelling in any approach doable.
Asked in regards to the Palestinian civilians who had been killed amid their son’s rescue, Mr. Kozlov mentioned he was saddened by their deaths.
“If there was such a risk to keep away from these victims, it might be significantly better,” he mentioned.
