Female hostages of Hamas were imprisoned in cages, as were infants

More unshocking news on the horrible treatment of Israeli hostages has been reported, and the Hamas' misogyny comes into focus:

Women who were abducted from Israeli territory and held hostage by Hamas in Gaza were kept in cages, according to a report by Israeli media, citing a statement from a member of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

This claim is not the first of its kind: In the days immediately following the October 7 attacks, videos from Hamas's Telegram channel showed child hostages being kept in cages for the majority of their time in captivity.

Hamas distributed a letter on Monday allegedly written by Danielle Aloni, who was kidnapped alongside her 5-year-old daughter Emilia and held in captivity. In the letter, written in Hebrew and translated into Arabic, she reportedly thanked Hamas for the "extraordinary humanity" provided to her daughter, who "felt like a queen."

The letter also read, "I will forever be a prisoner of love because [Emilia] did not leave here with psychological trauma forever." The Aloni family has not confirmed this letter nor the statements made in it, though it has been widely distributed on social media by the Hamas terror organization.

This letter is one of many that hostages were forced to write, according to Israeli media reports.

Survivors reported being provided with limited food while being held hostage, without clear reports of physical abuse or torture. Of the small rations they received – sometimes only rice and pita at best – the hostages were often left to cook the food for themselves and for the children held with them. They also said how their final two weeks had seen supplies running low.

Supplies running low

Merav Mor Munder, the cousin of Keren Munder who was released on Friday, told N12 "There were days when there were no supplies, so they only ate pita bread. They were not tortured, but there were days when they barely had any food, in the last few days they only ate very little rice."

She relates how one of the hostages, Hannah Katzir, who was also released, learned of her son’s murder on one of the few occasions they would be permitted to listen to Israeli radio. It was upon her own release that she found out that her husband had also been kidnapped and remains in Gaza.

Some of the hostages spoke of their worry about last-minute attempts by Hamas or Gazans – who had thrown stones at the vehicles taking them to Egypt – to attack them before they got home. "Until the last moment we weren't sure," a hostage said: "We thought they would lynch us on the way to Israel."

This is going to stand out as some of the worst hostage abuse of the century.

Update: in the meantime, a fifth group of hostages has been released from captivity. Here's some more about what they went through.

Update 2: it's also important to note that more lies are being spread about Israel, and even the UK Guardian is one of the biggest defenders.