**TEL AVIV, Israel** — On the morning of October 7, 2023, Luis Har found himself abducted by Hamas militants, clad only in shorts and a T-shirt. As the weeks turned into months of his ordeal, the onset of a cold, damp winter introduced an overwhelming dread that he had never experienced before.
“I felt a penetrating cold in my bones,” expressed Har, who was eventually rescued in mid-February during an Israeli military operation. The apartment where he was held lacked heating, and the frigid air seeped through the thin mattress he had to sleep on. With ongoing fights outside, shattered windows allowed rain and chilling winds to invade the space.
While Har is now safely enjoying a warm winter, many hostages remain in precarious and freezing conditions. Their families and friends are increasingly anxious for a ceasefire agreement that could relieve their 15-month-long nightmare. “Winter complicates everything significantly,” Har noted. “They need to return home as swiftly as possible.”
The situation for hostages mirrors the plight of countless Palestinians in Gaza, who are grappling with limited food supplies, the threat from Israeli air attacks, and bitter winter weather. The conflict that erupted following Hamas’s initial assault has displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, with many enduring their second winter in makeshift tents that struggle to withstand the elements, facing nighttime temperatures that can dip below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).
Currently, there are discussions between Israel and Hamas concerning a potential exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, alongside a ceasefire. However, families of the hostages are haunted by the memory of previous negotiations that fizzled despite initial hope. They worry that this situation may end similarly.
“It feels like a dagger in our hearts,” commented Ofri Bibas Levy, reflecting on the emotional rollercoaster that families have faced throughout the conflict. Her brother, Yarden Bibas, along with his wife and two young sons, remain captives in Gaza. “It has to happen now, or it may never happen,” she shared with Israeli Army Radio.
During their assault on southern Israel, Hamas killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped roughly 250, with over 100 hostages released during a temporary ceasefire in the war’s early days. In retaliation, Israel has reportedly killed more than 45,000 people in Gaza, with the majority being women and children, based on numbers provided by the Health Ministry in Gaza. These figures do not differentiate between combatants and noncombatants.
Among the nearly 100 hostages still believed to be held in Gaza, approximately one-third are thought to be deceased, either from injuries sustained during the initial attack or as a result of captivity. Israel has managed to rescue eight hostages and recover the bodies of dozens more.
The hostages vary in age from just 1 year old to 86, and they are believed to be spread across various locations within the Gaza Strip. They have been kept in apartments and within Hamas’s network of underground tunnels, which have been described as cramped, damp, and suffocating by those who have been released.
Many families remain in the dark about the conditions that their loved ones are enduring, increasing their anxiety. “When I see a rainy or cold day, or a storm outside, it makes me feel desperate,” said Michael Levy, whose brother was seized during a music festival, just after militants killed his wife, leaving their 3-year-old son, Almog, orphaned.
Yehonatan Sabban, representing the Hostages Families Forum, indicated that the hostages are suffering from malnutrition, lacking vital fat reserves and facing weakened immune systems, which heightens their vulnerability to winter-related illnesses. “Everyone is in a life-threatening position that requires their immediate release,” Sabban asserted.
Recalling his time of captivity, Har noted that winter exacerbated the conditions. He was initially held with four family members, including a Shih Tzu smuggled in by one of them. During a brief ceasefire in late November, three of these family members, along with the dog, were freed. This left Har and his relative Fernando Marman with their captors in a second-floor apartment situated in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza.
Desperate for warmth, Har pleaded with his captors—dressed in heavy coats—to provide warmer clothing. They complied, but the clothes they delivered were tattered and holed. Personal hygiene was an issue; every ten days, they were allowed to wash with water drawn from a bucket. One of the apartment’s shattered windows was temporarily covered with a tarp to block the elements.
In the early days of his captivity, food supplies were brought in, allowing Har to take on cooking duties. With available ingredients, he made various soups. However, as the conflict dragged on and temperatures fell, food became increasingly scarce. They were overjoyed when a captor brought them a single egg to share. For several weeks, he and Marman lived on a single pita each day.
During the raid that led to his liberation in mid-February, he fled from the apartment barefoot and was immediately assisted by soldiers offering him shoes and a coat before escorting him back home. This operation reportedly resulted in the deaths of approximately 70 Palestinians, according to local officials.
With hope hanging by a thread, the families of the remaining hostages are now focusing their expectations on the most recent ceasefire negotiations. “All I can do is pray that my brother is somehow managing to endure,” Levy confided, “and trust that the human spirit is more powerful than anything.”
