Ex-Israeli prisoner in Gaza: Hamas fighters shielded us with their bodies

Jerusalem (Quds News) – An ex-Israeli captive in Gaza has disclosed harrowing details of an Israeli military airstrike on a location where she and other captives were held in the Gaza Strip.

Almog Goldstein (48 years old) spoke in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12, revealing that fighters from the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, shielded them with their bodies.

“They treat women like queens”

Israeli female detainees describe their detention experience by the resistance in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/mtXNdsE3iv

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 24, 2023

During a night in Gaza while in captivity, a group of Israeli prisoners were taken to a supermarket to spend some time there in an unspecified location. Goldstein recounted, “We were in the supermarket, and suddenly there was an [Israeli] bombardment on the street [where the supermarket was. The gunfire was like a bulldozer approaching; it was mad.”

“As the bombardment occurred,” she said, “we quickly folded the mattress we were on, our guards stood and shielded us with their bodies.

When asked by the Israeli journalist from which the Hamas fighters were protecting them, Goldstein replied, “From the gunfire coming from the Israeli army because we were very important to them.”

“We sometimes asked them about it, and they told us, ‘We will die before you die. We will die together (…) If it happens, we will die together because we are close to you; we are with you,” she added.

Goldstein, along with her daughter Agam (17 years old), and her two sons Gal (11 years old) and Tal (9 years old), was released by Hamas three weeks ago as part of a prisoner exchange deal during the humanitarian pause in Gaza.

She revealed that she and her children were held with other Israelis in an apartment for five weeks, expressing fears that the captivity might last for years. Goldstein shared that they named her daughter “Salsabeel” and described it as a beautiful name.

Channel 12 noted, “Hamas, which held the family of four, realized it had an invaluable bargaining chip and issued instructions to keep Goldstein and her children alive, no matter the cost.”

Regarding the recent killing of three Israeli captives in Gaza by the Israeli army, Agam stated, “Netanyahu wanted to bring down Hamas. But if you kill the guards who were with me, where am I, and where will I go? Here, we got answers about where people will go without their captors; they were killed by our forces.”