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topicnews · August 27, 2024

Released Gaza hostage reveals Hamas terrorist tactics

Released Gaza hostage reveals Hamas terrorist tactics

Former hostage Moran Stella Yanai said in an interview on Sunday that her Hamas captors demanded a ransom for her release and tried to pressure her to convert to Islam.

In an interview with N12, former hostage Moran Stella, who was released on November 29 last year, told interviewers that while she was in captivity, Hamas terrorists demanded that her father pay for her release and threatened to kill her if he refused, Stella said.

Stella continued: “One day around noon, I and two other hostages were sitting in a room, prepared for any scenario that might occur in the next room (where the terrorists were) when I suddenly heard ‘Abuha, Abuha’ several times.”

As Stella heard the phrase, which means “her father, her father” in Arabic, over and over again, she began to listen more carefully until one of her captors approached her and started asking questions about her father.

She said her kidnapper asked her, “Does your father love you? To which I replied, ‘Of course, more than anything.’ Then he asked me, ‘And what would he give in exchange for you?’ I asked him what he meant by that and he replied, ‘How much money would he give in exchange for you?'”

A man walks dogs next to pictures of hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7, in Tel Aviv, Israel, August 26, 2024 (Source: REUTERS/FLORION GOGA)

Stella repeated to the terrorist that her father would give anything for her return, N12 reported. Stella then continued, saying the terrorist had been interrogating her about the same topic all day, asking how much her father earned and other socioeconomic questions.

Kidnappers’ ransom and conversion demands

When Stella told N12 that her captors were talking to the hostage’s parents (hence the terrorists’ “Abuha Abuha” comments beforehand and the subsequent questions about money), she repeated to her captors: “I made it clear to him at that moment that my father would give anything for me.”

Stella then told N12 that after returning from captivity in the Gaza Strip, she asked her father whether her captors had demanded a ransom for her release, to which he replied “yes.”

She further said that it is still unclear whether the communication between her captors was to extort money from her family or whether it was the psychological torture the terrorists inflicted on her family, as N12 stated in its report. Stella explained: “It is part of their mind games. They are not only playing with us, but also with our families,” she further stressed. “It does not end with our death or our abduction, they continue to torture and mistreat our families.”

“Almost every day one of them would come into the room and say, ‘It would be better for you to be a Muslim.’ And once the terrorist sent one of his comrades to get me a head covering and put it on me and show me what it means to be a Muslim,” Stella told N12.

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Stella also said that her captors occasionally brought her a Quran to read verses from it and told her to praise God. They said: “If you convert to Islam, we will release you sooner,” she told N12, citing her captors.

“As a woman, my biggest fear is being sold. That someone will force me into marriage and that I will have to convert to Islam,” Stella said. She further stressed that the whole experience had been traumatic for her family.

Stella said that when her father received the ransom demands, “he went into shock. He was given a photo of his daughter (not one taken in captivity) and was told that if he did not pay money within an hour, they would kill us one by one. I try to imagine my father in that situation, being told that if he did not send money, they would kill his daughter within an hour. I think of my father and what is going through his mind – it could break his heart. My parents have been through no less traumatic experiences than I have.”



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