Former Hamas hostage shares harrowing story of Oct. 7 and Gaza captivity

For the first time, former hostage Rimon Buchshtav-Kirsh has given a live interview in English, recounting the events of the 7 October Hamas attack, her weeks in captivity in Gaza, and the enduring bond she shared with her husband, Yagev Buchshtav, who was later killed in captivity.

She was abducted alongside her husband from Kibbutz Nirim during the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel, was released in the November 2023 hostage exchange after more than a month in captivity.

Her husband remained in Gaza and was later confirmed dead.

Her interview offered an unflinching account of the attack, the conditions of captivity, and the determination that defined both her and her husband throughout their ordeal.

"We Never Made It to the Safe Room"

At 6:29 am, as rocket sirens sounded, she and her husband intended to seek shelter in their safe room. Instead, their five dogs ran into the bedroom, prompting the couple to remain with them while reassuring family members by phone that they were safely sheltered.

Initially believing the attack was another round of rocket fire, they soon realized something far more serious was unfolding.

Looking through a window, Rimon saw armed men dressed in Israeli military uniforms. Her husband quickly recognised they were Hamas militants carrying assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Unable to reach the safe room, the couple hid in their bedroom alongside their pets.

"My instinct was to call the people I love," she said. "To tell them I love them."

Fighting to Stay Together

As gunfire spread through the kibbutz, Rimon armed herself with a knife while attempting to protect her husband, who she said lived with complex post-traumatic stress disorder following his military service in Gaza.

The couple managed to repel the first attacker who entered through a window. Moments later, dozens of militants forced their way through the front door.

Realizing resistance was impossible, she told her husband to stop barricading the entrance.

Instead, they embraced.

"I said, 'Let's lock our arms around each other. Don't let go.'"

The militants attempted to pull them apart, tearing at their clothes, but failed to separate them before dragging them outside.

She recalled being loaded onto a golf cart "on top of bodies" alongside her husband as they were driven out of Kibbutz Nirim.

Throughout the journey into Gaza, she said, they continued holding hands until they were taken underground into the tunnel network.

Encountering Yahya Sinwar

While in captivity, Rimon said she unexpectedly met Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, though she did not initially recognize him.

She described two conversations with Sinwar, during which she requested medication for fellow hostages, better sanitation and access to water for washing.

According to Rimon, Sinwar promised to provide medication and improve some of the conditions. She said medication was subsequently delivered and that he helped arrange a shower for a young girl being held nearby.

Her account reflects her personal recollection of those events.

In the final weeks before her release, Rimon and her husband were moved into solitary confinement together inside what she described as a cage.

She said they were repeatedly pressured to separate, with captors offering to move her to be with women and children while transferring Yagev elsewhere.

Each time, they refused.

"They would ask us every few days," she recalled. "We answered in Arabic, 'Everything is okay. We stay here. We stick together.'"

She said the refusals angered their captors, who intensified both psychological and physical abuse.

Rimon described living without showers for weeks, enduring unsanitary conditions, insect infestations and repeated beatings that left her with multiple injuries, including broken bones, burns and the loss of 16 teeth.

She also disclosed publicly that she was sexually assaulted shortly after arriving in Gaza during what captors described as a security search.

"For months," she said, "I didn't fully realize that what happened to me was sexual assault."

Her Release

Rimon said one of the most painful moments of her captivity came when she learned she would be released while her husband would remain behind.

She fought unsuccessfully for them to be freed together.

Upon her release, photographs captured her confronting masked Hamas militants moments before being transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The images spread around the world and became a widely recognized symbol of resilience.

Reflecting on that moment, Rimon said it was not an act of spontaneous courage but simply a reflection of who she had been throughout captivity.

"That's me," she said. "That was me all along."

A Message of Gratitude

Concluding the interview, she thanked supporters in Israel and around the world.

"I'm getting so much love," she said. "I appreciate it, and thank you."

Her testimony adds to the growing body of first-hand accounts from former hostages detailing the violence of the 7 October attack and the conditions experienced by those held in Gaza. It also offers a deeply personal portrait of a couple who, despite repeated attempts to separate them, remained together for as long as they could.