Survivor of Music Festival Recounts Horrific 54-Day Captivity by Hamas in Gaza

Moran Stella Yanai endured a 54-day captivity in Gaza, where she faced harrowing experiences. She was caught by her captors, who were different from her previous encounters, and was subsequently sold to Hamas.

During her captivity, she was moved to 7 different locations and had to employ various survival strategies to ensure her well-being. Yanai emphasized the importance of protecting one’s story while in captivity, as things that happen in one location should not be carried over to the next.

She also recounted moments when she was held with another woman and overheard disturbing discussions about marrying the younger woman who was also in captivity. She shared that she herself was not sexually assaulted but learned from other female hostages that they had been raped.

Yanai described the unsettling process of being “examined” when moving between houses, emphasizing that the term “rape” encompasses more than just the act itself but also includes the psychological torment she endured. During her captivity, there were moments of desperation, such as playing cards with their captors to obtain food due to extreme hunger.

She also attempted to lighten the mood with jokes, which resulted in a threatening gesture from one of the captors. Yanai was eventually released on November 29 as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement facilitated by Qatar and the United States.