Smoke rises in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel. Photo / AP
Smoke rises in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel. Photo / AP
Itay Regev, 19, described how he 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 at gunpoint from the Nova music festival in southern Israel. “The terrorists drove us around Gaza, parading us like a trophy,” he said.
He told the Telegraph there was a family living at one of the houses where he was held captive, 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.”
Itay 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. Some 240 Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli jails as part of the deal, along with a temporary pause in fighting. Their friend Omer, 21, remains in captivity.
Itay Regev, who was taken hostage at the Nova music festival and released after more than 50 days, speaks during a press conference at the site of the festival. Photo / Getty
Psychological torture
Speaking from the Israeli embassy in London, he described the “psychological torture” his captors subjected him to, including telling him 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 Nova 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.
Itay, who was in so much pain he could barely walk, said he was taken to a hospital where he was operated on without anaesthesia 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 being 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.
Talking about his release from captivity, he said he felt “happiness, alongside a lot of sadness about Omer. Happiness that I was being reunited with my family, but a lot of sadness that Omer is staying behind and we were not getting released together.”
Hostage delegation
Itay is in London this week as part of a hostage delegation, who hope to make the case for the release of the remaining 134 hostages.
“They cannot ask or scream for help themselves, and [they are the] voices that should be heard. I am here to give a voice to them and to shout for them,” he said.
The hostage delegation held an event in parliament on Wednesday where MPs and peers, as well as foreign minister Andrew Mitchell, were addressed by relatives of current hostages.
Itay said his message for the Prime Minister and Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, is to “imagine what it would be like if it was their relatives – they wouldn’t name a price”.
He added: “Ask them to imagine your kid is wounded, captured and being tortured - what would you do?”
He said there is a danger British people will “forget what happened on October 7″, adding: “The fact that so many innocent people were kidnapped and murdered – people celebrating love and peace at the music festival, people sleeping peacefully at their house.”
“A lot of people are not aware of everything that happened on October 7 and that should be made obvious to everyone: the terror and fear that people experienced on October 7, and the cruelty.”
