Ofri Bibas Levy, whose brother Yarden (34) was taken hostage with his wife Shiri (32) and 2 children Kfir (10 months) and Ariel (4), holds with her friend Tal Ulus pictures of them during an interview with Reuters, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas continues, in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 13, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

A group of released hostages spoke on Thursday before the World Economic Forum, currently underway in Davos, Switzerland.

“Hamas terrorists desecrated the most peaceful place and turned it into a bloodbath. On the way to Gaza I was beaten, I thought my life was over, I prayed that I would die quickly and without suffering,” said Moran Stela Yanai, a 40-year-old who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in Re’im on October 7 and released as part of the November hostage deal. “Every minute we thought we would be raped. We couldn’t sleep, we couldn’t breathe, we weren’t allowed to speak. The captivity in Gaza included never-ending anxiety attacks and nightmares. Every day left a scar on the soul,” she continued.

Another former hostage, Niki Margalit, a 41-year-old nurse at Soroka Hospital in the south who was reported to have acted in her professional capacity taking care of fellow hostages in Gaza, said “By profession I am a nurse in a children’s emergency room, and I realized that there too I have to help and take care of those around me. But without medical supplies, this is an almost impossible task. In addition to the injuries and the sick, there is not enough air to breathe, not enough food, and [lack of] basic hygiene. The body is so weak that any disease can kill you. The abductees can die every day! Every hour is dangerous for them.”

Hamas terrorists kidnapped more than 240 civilians when they broke into southern Israel on October 7, also killing more than 1,200 Israelis, 364 of whom were murdered at the Nova music festival Yanai was taken captive from. After a global campaign reaching the capitals of most major countries, a hostage deal was brokered between Israel and Hamas, with mediation by Qatar and the United States, that led to the release of 110 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Still, 132 remain held by terrorists in the Strip.

Other former hostages and families of those held spoke to Israeli media on Thursday, 104 days since the massacre of the 7th.

The youngest hostage taken, Kfir Bibas, 9-months-when he was kidnapped, celebrated his 1st birthday on Thursday. A cousin of his mother Shiri, told Israel media, “This is the saddest birthday in the world, and the world is doing nothing and nothing. There is a tiny baby in the captivity of Hamas for 104 days.” Hamas has claimed that Shiri, Kfir, and her 4-year-old, Ariel, were all killed in an Israeli airstrike, even posting a psychological warfare video telling the patriarch of the family, Yarden, that his wife and children were killed. The IDF has denied this story.

63-year-old Clara Marman, kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak and whose husband and brother are still being held, told Israeli television on Thursday “I don’t exactly feel like I’m back. In my head, I’m still there. Right now I’m making every effort to get [my husband and brother] back. The slogan, ‘The heart is there,’ for me it’s not a slogan, my heart is really captive.”

The hostages who attended the global forum of the top world leaders, diplomats, and business people were brought as guests of Israeli President Isaac Herzog in hopes of broadcasting their plight to the world. The specific meeting the hostages spoke at was hosted by Palantir and one of its co-founders, billionaire Peter Thiel. Palantir, the US-based defense and data analytics company, held its first board meeting of 2024 in Tel Aviv in an act of solidarity with the Jewish state — a meeting that led to the signing of a strategic partnership deal with the Defense Ministry.