Fresh testimony emerged on Friday about IDF soldier Agam Berger‘s 482-day ordeal in Hamas captivity. Yaffa Deri, wife of Shas Party Chairman Aryeh Deri, and their daughter Margalit Peretz, visited the released IDF observers at the hospital, revealing intimate details of Agam’s spiritual resilience.
“Agam found a siddur [Jewish prayer book] in Gaza and maintained her religious observance, including fasting on Tisha B’Av,” Deri said.
Berger, 20, released on Thursday during the Hamas-Israel hostage deal’s third swap, “discovered a prayer book in Gaza that became her spiritual anchor throughout her captivity. Agam believes the prayer book was inadvertently left behind by soldiers who had previously been in the area,” Deri told Israel Hayom after leaving Beilinson Hospital/Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikvah.
Agam told Deri that she “categorically refused to accept the Quran despite her captors’ persistent attempts to persuade her.”
Yaffa Deri, Margalit Peretz-Deri and Tzili Schneider from the Kesher Yehudi (“Jewish Connection”) organization have been steadfast supporters of the Berger family throughout their 15-month ordeal, accompanying them on journeys, during Sabbaths, to holy sites, and at women’s gatherings. Their presence at the hospital came at the request of the Berger family.
Ayelet, Agam’s mother, delivered her first public statement at Beilinson Hospital with profound gratitude: “If I had to stand here and thank everyone who stood by us, I would be standing here until the end of my life.”
These revelations add to earlier reports of Agam’s spiritual fortitude during captivity, including her determined adherence to kosher dietary laws and Jewish traditions under the most challenging circumstances.
Berger was taken from the Nahal Oz military post during the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist invasion along with several other female observers who had tried to alert the military of suspicious movements along the Gaza border before the attack. Dozens of soldiers from the base were killed in the attack, as well as some 1,200 other Israeli residents and foreigners.
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
