Israeli hostage who spent 55 days in Gaza visits SA to talk about her ordeal

An Israeli woman who was held hostage in Gaza for 55 days by Hamas says the ordeal has hardened her views to the point that she now believes “we cannot live in peace with these people”.

“All my life I believed in peace. It made me sad to go back to Israel with this understanding,” said Sapir Cohen, who was taken hostage when Hamas militants invaded Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 7.

She had gone there on a visit with her boyfriend Sasha Trupanov, to visit his parents. Trupanov, who was also taken hostage, has not been released.

Speaking in Johannesburg on Wednesday night, Cohen said Trupanov had planned to visit his parents that day but then said he did not want to go. “Unfortunately I convinced him and we went to visit them. On Saturday I woke up at 6am because of a barrage of bombs.”

Cohen said they heard an hour later that terrorists were in the kibbutz and they also saw on the internet that the “terrorists were slaughtering us”.

She took a blanket, put it over herself and hid under the bed.

“Then I heard 'Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar'. ('God is most great' in Arabic), hundreds of terrorists entering the kibbutz and I heard things explode and heard screams of terrorists and of people being killed.”

She said terrorists came into their house and broke everything. Cohen heard her boyfriend screaming. She said 10 men removed her from the room and she saw that Trupanov had been assaulted. 

She last saw Trupanov when she was taken as a hostage to Gaza.

“When I entered Gaza, I saw thousands of people in the streets, of the innocent people. They encouraged terrorists and touched me and beat me. Finally the two terrorists [escorting her] saved me because in most situations the main goal is to take you alive.”

She stayed in three houses and two tunnels while in custody before she was released. She said the tunnels were dark and narrow, had a foul smell and were full of water.

“Unfortunately Sasha is still there and many other hostages. I saw some of the hostages get one pita [flatbread] per day, others were given just salt water that destroyed their bodies. Some of them were injured, some of them had very bad illnesses and did not get appropriate medicine.”

On the first day in captivity, Cohen said she saw another hostage, aged 85. 

“They beat him so strong that after a few days he died.”

Cohen said on another day, her hostage takers called her to watch TV. She said she saw thousands of Israeli people together.

“Before October 7, there was this big division in our nation. But what surprised me was that one of them said 'when all the Jewish people are together like this, they are very strong'. I believe the main goal of this war is to [bring] all Jewish people together.”

She said many people had told her not to visit South Africa because the government did not like Israel. “This is the reason I wanted to visit, especially to see the Jewish people. It was very important for you to hear first-hand.”

When asked whether she experienced any kindness while in Gaza, Cohen said she could not call it kindness. “In Gaza you do not see kindness. The terrorists' goal is to protect you. They give you food. When I was in custody, terrorists told me, 'when you go back to Israeli, tell your people we will come back again and again',” she said.

Cohen said when she heard explosions in Gaza while in captivity, she was very afraid. “I knew it was a war and that our county needs to fight and I prayed to God that he will save me.” 

When Cohen was released, she said she was was very emotional. “This is supposed to be a war against terrorist organisations. Unfortunately the world does not see it like me. But we remember October 7, Americans remember 9/11.”

South African chief rabbi Warren Goldstein expressed delight at Cohen's visit.

“We are delighted you did not let the South African government put you off from coming here. You brought light and love into our community,” Goldstein said.

TimesLIVE