Slain Israeli Hostage Held by Hamas in Brutal Conditions Beneath Gaza

The sisters of an Israeli woman, Eden Yerushalmi, who was kidnapped and later killed by Hamas, have described the “inhuman” conditions of her captivity, sharing their painful experience with CNN. They have been living through what they call a “nightmare” since her body was found by the Israeli military in a tunnel in Gaza.

Eden was abducted from the Nova music festival during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. Her body was one of six recovered by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) late last month.

Shani and May, Eden’s sisters, recounted to CNN’s Anderson Cooper that they had received evidence of Eden being alive on three separate occasions, the last of which was just three weeks before her death. Shani expressed how difficult it has been for the family, saying, “It feels like we’re in a nightmare… We truly believed Eden would come back home alive.”

According to details shared by the IDF after her body was returned, Eden had been held captive in a narrow, windowless tunnel with no air or light, along with limited food. The captives could only sleep in a line and had to use a bucket as a toilet. Eden’s body, found in a Hamas-controlled tunnel under Rafah, showed signs of brutal treatment. The IDF informed the family that she was shot at close range and bore marks on her hands, indicating she tried to defend herself.

The deaths of Eden and five other Israeli captives have sparked widespread anger in Israel, particularly directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for its handling of the crisis. Israeli officials reported that more than 1,200 people were killed, and 250 taken hostage during the October 7 attack, while over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began.

Eden, along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin and Carmel Gat, had been listed for release as part of a humanitarian agreement between Israel and Hamas. However, delays in executing the deal have stirred controversy, with some blaming the Israeli government.

Eden was a 23-year-old Pilates instructor and bartender at the Nova music festival. On the day of the attack, she sent a video of the rocket fire to her family, saying she was leaving the festival. She stayed in contact with her sisters for four hours as she tried to escape, until her final message: “They’ve caught me.”

Her sister May, who chose to see Eden’s body after its return, said, “We gave her a last hug to say goodbye… She was so thin, we could feel her bones sticking out,” with the autopsy revealing she weighed just 79 pounds.

The sisters remembered Eden as a kind and warm-hearted person, with May adding, “The most important thing is that she was a hero, and she survived 11 months in those tunnels.”