A dual Russian-Israeli resident of Karmiel was released by Hamas as a part of the third hostage exchange Sunday. His story is different than the others.

Roni Kriboi, age 25, was at the Nova Music Festival on October 7 when Hamas slaughtered hundreds of the festival-goers, raping, kidnapping, and torturing the others. Kriboi was kidnapped. He was released at the request of Vladimir Putin. His name was on a list of eight hostages with Russia citizenship that Putin gave to a Hamas delegation to Moscow. Putin told the delegation he wanted them freed.

When Kriboi was safely back on Israeli soil Sunday, he told a story not heard from others who have been released. He was able to escape his Hamas captors when the building he was being held in collapsed in an Israeli air strike. He tried to find his way back to Israel for four days. He was found by some local Gazans who handed him back to the Hamas terrorists. Imagine how hopeless and helpless he must have felt at that point during his captivity.

So much for the propaganda being spread to the Western world that not all Gazans are Hamas. There are only two explanations for that. Either Gazans do, in fact, support Hamas and agree with their actions, or Gazans are too afraid to go against Hamas. The truth probably is somewhere in the middle. Especially during a time of war, Gazans won’t be brave enough to rise up and oust Hamas from their territory. If they didn’t have the will to do it before Hamas began the war on October 7, then it’s not realistic to think they will be able to take Hamas out of power now. Hamas was elected with a strong majority of voters in Gaza. It’s what they want.

As I mentioned in a post earlier today, Hamas is winning the propaganda war. Assisted by media around the world, including in America, the narrative is that all Gazans should not be lumped in with Hamas. Not all Gazans are inclined to be terrorists against Israel and her supporters, we’re lectured to by our progressive betters. So, what explains this story? Those who found Kriboi could have hid him or helped him find his way back to Israel, but they did not. They returned him to his Hamas captors. The Gazans supported Hamas. It’s pretty hard to argue that they weren’t partners with Hamas in that instance.

One particularly disturbing bit of propaganda going around is that Hamas treated the hostages well. Really? They should never have been taken hostage in the first place. Hamas took old people, women and children, even a 9-month-old infant. They took American citizens and citizens from other countries, besides Israelis. Set aside all that. As reports are coming out now from hostages released over the weekend, they were not treated well. Those who believe such nonsense are hopelessly naive.

Their relatives have spoken of plastic chairs as beds, irregular meals of bread and rice, and hours spent waiting for the bathroom.

Some of the freed hostages have lost significant weight, and have told their loved ones how they had no sense of time passing in Gaza.

In one 84-year-old woman’s case, it is reported that she was not given vital medication while in Gaza, and that she is currently in an ‘unstable’ condition.

Another elderly woman said she feared she was on her way to be executed in the build up to her release, only to find that she was being freed.

They thought they would be executed. Why wouldn’t they? They saw the murders of their loved ones and those in their community. Some were dragged out of their homes and their homes were set on fire. It is unimaginable to most of us what these people saw as they were taken hostage.

One Israeli man said that Hamas is violating the truce agreement that mothers and their children will not be separated.

Yair Rotem, whose 13-year-old niece, Hila Rotem-Shoshani, was released Sunday, said he had to keep reminding her she didn’t need to whisper.

‘They always told them to whisper and stay quiet, so I keep telling her now she can raise her voice,’ said Rotem. He added that Hila, who celebrates her 13th birthday on Monday, slept well during her first night back in Israel and has an appetite.

Mr Rotem also suggested that Hamas had breached one element of its deal with Israel with its release of his niece.

Hila, he said, had told him she was held hostage together with her mother Raya and Emily Hand, a nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl who was also released over the weekend.

However, her 54-year-old mother Raya was not released.

Mr Rotem said Hila’s account to him contradicted Hamas’s own claims that the group is not aware of where Raya is. Her not being released from captivity along with her daughter would also represent a violation of the truce agreement, under which the terror group committed not to separate mothers from their children.

‘Hila returned without her mother and that is a clear violation of the agreement with Hamas. We demand from Hamas and the mediators that Raya be returned home as they agreed, immediately,’ he said, speaking from Sheba Hospital.

‘Hila told us she was in captivity together with her mother and Emily [Hand] until two days ago,’ he told reporters.

‘We know she was in good condition and expect her to remain in good condition.’

Hostages, by their very definition, are not treated well. They may be given food. They may be given access to a toilet. Nonetheless, they are there against their will. These are internationally recognized terrorists. Hamas is using a 10-month-old infant as a human shield, leverage in its negotiations. It is unthinkable, yet it is impossible to not think about since October 7.