Adina Moshe, freed from Hamas captivity as part of the November hostage deal, shared startling details of her 49-day ordeal, speaking to Army Radio on Thursday.
The 72-year-old disclosed her encounters with fellow Israeli hostages Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon from Kibbutz Nir Oz, whom she saw confined behind bars within the underground tunnels, providing a grim glimpse into their conditions and her efforts to improve their situation.
“I approached in complete darkness,” she recalled. “When I asked why they were confined, they said they don’t know. But when I inquired if they had confronted Hamas, it became clear they had.”
Moshe described her cautious approach to advocating for her fellow captives: “After two days, I approached the commander of the unit assigned to guard us. I told him I’d heard Hebrew voices and said, ‘They’re from Nir Oz.’ He was surprised at my knowledge.
“I urged him to bring them to us, and after two days, he allowed both to join us for an hour,” she continued. “They were then returned to confinement, but the next day, he permitted a two-hour visit.”
The Bibas family is widely known in Israel and internationally for the footage of their kidnapping from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, showing mother Shiri Bibas terrified and looking around helplessly while clutching both of her ginger-haired sons, then a 4-year-old and a 9-month-old-baby. More images of that day were released months later of Shiri and her two children in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.
Responding to a question about Yarden’s knowledge of his family’s fate, Moshe said: “He told us he had left the safe room to face the Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. Shiri and the children stayed behind. He said, ‘I truly hope they weren’t found because the attackers in my house caught me and took me to the terrorists’ meeting point at the kibbutz, then to Khan Yunis.’
“That is what he believed for quite some time. Eventually, I asked our Hamas guards if Shiri and the children were also being held. They said it would take time to find out. From the start, I worked to establish good relations with our captors. I realized this approach could benefit us all.”
Ofer Kalderon was taken to Gaza along with his daughter Sahar, then aged 16, and son Erez, then aged 11. The footage of Erez being dragged away by Hamas terrorists has become one of the symbols of the Oct. 7 attack. Sahar and Erez were released after 52 days in Hamas captivity, while their father is still held in Gaza.
“The day after my release, a Shin Bet investigator came to question me,” Moshe continued.” They didn’t know much about the tunnels. She asked me to describe them, and I realized it’s not something you can simply see—it’s about how it feels. I told her it’s an enormous, complex maze beneath the entire Gaza Strip.
“When I left the hospital, they sent a Shin Bet engineer to see me,” Moshe added. “She wanted me to draw the tunnel layout. I explained I was not an artist and offered a verbal description, but she insisted on a visual representation. I tried my best to illustrate it, but it’s an almost infinite network. I detailed everything—the phone lines, power supplies, booby traps, confinement areas—things they couldn’t have imagined existed.”
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
