Hamas burned child hostages with motorcycle exhaust pipes to 'mark' them, drugged them to keep them

Publish date: 2024-04-08

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Children taken hostage by Hamas were “marked” by their captors with burns from searing-hot motorcycle exhaust pipes, families of recently released child hostages have revealed.

“They told us stories about what they went through inside Gaza. The stories are horrible,” said Yaniv Yaakov, the uncle of 12-year-old Yagil and 16-year-old Or, two boys freed this week as part of Israel’s cease-fire deal with Hamas.

“Each child that was taken by Hamas was taken on a motorbike and they took every child, took his leg and put it on the exhaust of that motorbike, so they have a burn so they will be marked if they run, if they escape, so they can find them,” Yaakov said during an interview, according to the Times of Israel.

His nephews and other children held captive by the terrorists were also frequently moved from place to place, and drugged to keep them complacent.

“They were treated so bad, but at least they are with us,” he said.

Or Yaakov, 16, was one of the children “marked” by Hamas with burns from searing-hot motorcycle exhaust. Courtesy
Yagil Yaakov, 12, was freed this week. Courtesy

Yagil and Or’s account was just one of many emerging from relatives of children taken hostage by Hamas during their bloody October 7 attack on Israel. Of the more than 200 hostages, about 40 are believed to be children. At least 32 kids have been released so far.

The youngest, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, died in Hamas captivity along with his mother and 4-year-old brother. The terror group claimed they were killed by Israeli shelling.

Twelve-year-old Eitan Yahalomi was beaten by a mob of Gaza citizens when he was first carried across the border from Israel, his aunt Deborah Cohen said, according to Reuters.

Meirav Tal meets with her family after the release of Hamas prisoners.

Later, the terrorists forced him to watch graphic footage of their massacres in Israel, Cohen said.

“Every time a child cried there, they threatened them with a weapon to make them be quiet. Once they got to Gaza, all the civilians, everyone was hitting them,” she said in an interview with French outlet BFM TV.

“We’re talking about a child 12 years old,” she added.

Video shows Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023, incursion into Israel. AP

Emily Hand, a 9-year-old who spent her captivity dodging between houses in Gaza with her captors to avoid shelling, has only spoken in whispers since her return after they conditioned her not to make noise.

“I had to put my ear close to her mouth to hear. In captivity, she was told not to make any noise. You can see the terror in her eyes,” her father, Thomas Hand, told CNN after her recent release.

Another girl held with Emily, 13-year-old Hila Rotem Shoshani, is also speaking only in a hushed voice, according to her family.

Kfir Bibas, just 10 months old, died in Hamas captivity, according to the terror group. via REUTERS
Emily Hand, 9, shortly after being reunited with her father. She is speaking in whispers after Hamas conditioned her to be quiet. via REUTERS
A rescuer carries a child amid the rubble of an airstrike. AFP via Getty Images

Many children reported being kept underground in Hamas’ elaborate tunnel system throughout the duration of their captivity, where they subsisted on desperately small rations of rice and pita bread.

The cease-fire deal started on November 24 after Hamas agreed to release 50 hostages in return for a four-day truce and the release of 150 Israeli prisoners.

Hamas was given the option to extend the cease-fire another day for every 10 additional hostages released.

Over 100 hostages have since been released as the truce is scheduled to lift at 7 a.m. local time Friday, unless another deal can be reached.

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