Freed Israeli hostage says he was paraded in Gaza ‘like a trophy’

A FORMER Israeli hostage has told how he was paraded through the streets of Gaza by Hamas terrorists after he was captured on Oct 7.

Itay Regev, 19, said could hear Palestinian people “laughing and cheering” as he was driven around the territory in a truck, along with his sister Maya and their friend Omer Shem Tov.

All three had been kidnapped from the Nova music festival in southern Israel. “The terrorists drove us around Gaza, parading us like a trophy,” he said.

He said that at one of the houses where he was held captive, there was a family living there including women and children. The children were brought into the room where he was being held so they could point at him, he recalled, adding: “It was ‘come and see what we have’. It made me feel that no-one is truly innocent.”

Mr Regev was released from captivity after 54 days, as part of a hostage deal and week-long truce in late November, along with his sister Maya and 103 other hostages. Omer was not freed.

Mr Regev described the “psychological torture” his captors subjected him to, including telling him that hostages were being killed every day by Israeli airstrikes. He said when he was taken into Gaza, he thought his life was over, adding: “I didn’t realise I was being taken captive. I thought I was going to be killed.”

As he was trying to flee the massacre at the festival in a car with Maya and Omer, he was shot in the leg and the bullet was still lodged in his thigh when he was taken into Gaza. In so much pain he could barely walk, he said he was taken to a hospital where he was operated on without anaesthetic by a “terrified” doctor who was surrounded by terrorists.

He said he was held in three different locations along with Omer, and each time they were moved at night, on one occasion forced to dress as women in burkas to avoid detection.

During his time in captivity, he said he did not see any daylight, was not allowed to wash and was given only a tiny amount of food to survive on.

Mr Regev is in London this week as part of a hostage delegation that hopes to make the case for the release of the remaining 134 hostages. The delegation held an event in parliament yesterday where MPS and peers, as well as foreign minister Andrew Mitchell, were addressed by relatives of hostages.