“I don't know how he survived,” says Fried Israel's niece as hostages

While holding a hostage from Hamas for 15 months in Gaza, 80-year-old Moses ate a major piece of bread and olive twice a day, says his niece Euphrates Macikawa.

“I have no idea how he survived,” she says to the BBC. “He lost so much weight.”

He gives him a small bowl of water to wash every five days and had to ask to use the toilet, she said. He moved often and was mostly alone, as Makikawa said that “loneliness is another form of torture.”

He calculated the math problems in his head to distract and go up to 11 km (six miles) a day in a room, measuring the distance, she added.

“Even at the most dark times, he knew how to lift himself,” she said. “The hope of getting together with the family and worrying about us was the greatest power was the only meal he had for his soul.”

Gadi was one of the 18 hostages, released so far this year as part of a transaction to end the fire between Israel and Hamas, in exchange for 583 Palestinian prisoners.

The termination of fire aims to end a 15 -month war in Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages.

Israel's military campaign in response killed more than 47,000 Gaza, according to the Hamas Health Ministry, whose figures are seen as reliable by the UN.

Now, as the offers are returning for more than a year in captivity, details of their conditions are emerging. Limited food bills without fresh vegetables, are similar to the conditions reported by Gazani during the warS

Two members of the former hostage family told the BBC that they were back.

“We are all very, very excited that Keith returned home, but he is very worried about seeing the condition he returned to us,” Tal Wax, the niece of 65-year-old American-Israel hostage Keith Seagel, who was released in Saturday, he said.

“Although we can see that he is able to walk and talk, we see that he has lost a lot of weight,” she said.

She heard from her cousins ​​and G -N -Seagal Aviv's wife that “he had to withstand many terrible situations in captivity while still the good man is.”

He is still vegan, she added.

“Keith is very humane and wanted to tell us that he is still the same person … Even after everything he has experienced … He still lives according to his beliefs,” she said.

“This is just the beginning of his rehab. We have a long way ahead of us.”

Makikawa said that even her uncle's release was a “terrifying” experience.

As the crowds surrounded him in Gaza on Thursday, he thought it was “the end of his life,” she said.

After he returned to Israel, she managed to sleep for the first time after his capture.

“I have the feeling that my tension is slowly melting,” she said.

On Friday, she ran to hug her uncle at the hospital, where he gave her “the strongest, most powerful hug” and she released “an outburst of tears of relief and love.”

“We understand that the Uncle we know is the same one we know, but even more greater,” she said as he was talking about rehabilitation and strong and dreamed of returning to his fields where he was an agricultural expert.

“Unity and family and dedication to themselves for justice and the right cause are greater than anything because I stopped my life on October 7,” she said.

She thanked Qatar and the United States for the deal of the deal and the “brave” workers of the Red Cross who made it easier for the editions.

“Joy is incredible,” she said, but she has mixed feelings until every hostage is back. She said that “we need to eradicate terror” and “Israel must secure its boundaries and work for a better neighborhood and region.”

“We will always strive to be better, to be like nasty, to be the one who is connected even in the youngest times, and gives the hand for the chance for a better life with everyone around us.”

Few hostages so far this year have spoken publicly about their experiences.

On Saturday, Doron Steinbreher, who was released two weeks ago, released a video statement.

“It will take time and it's a process – it won't end in a week or two, but I'm here, thank you and I'm fine,” she said.

“I understand that everyone knows me from this horrible record” they caught me, they caught me, they caught me “or like a blond girl wearing a pink,” she said. “But I'm no longer a blonde and I won't wear pink anymore. I'm Doron, 31 years old. I'm no longer a Hamas prisoner and I'm home.”

For families with loved ones, “you are not alone” and “we continue to fight for you,” she added.

This includes the Bibs family, which he welcomed back on Saturday, but not his wife Shiri and two little sons, Ariel and CFIR, who were also taken hostage.

Earlier Hamas said they had been killed in an Israeli air strike at the beginning of the war – but they were indicated in Hostage list In January, it is said that he is ready to break free.

“A quarter of our heart came back to us after 15 long months,” the Bibs family said in a statement. “Yarden has returned home, but the home remains incomplete.”

Israeli President Isaac Duke said his country remains “deeply concerned” about their fate.

Another 15 hostages and about 1300 Palestinian prisoners still have to be released in the first six weeks of the truce, which began on January 19th.