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Today's Paper | May 08, 2026

Published 11 Dec, 2023 07:05pm

Gaza captivity was ‘Russian roulette’, freed Israeli hostage says

Israeli Sharon Alony-Cunio survived 52 days as a hostage in Gaza with her two little girls before she was released in an Israel-Hamas swap deal. But she fears for the life of her husband who is still captive in the bombarded Palestinian enclave, Reuters reports.

Now back home with her twin three-year-olds, Julie and Emma, she pleads for the remaining 137 hostages to be freed.

“Every minute is critical. The conditions there are not good and the days go on forever,” she told Reuters in her first interview.

“It’s a Russian roulette. You don’t know whether tomorrow morning they’ll keep you alive or kill you, just because they want to or just because their backs are against the wall,” said Alony-Cunio, 34.

“Everyone gave up food for them (the girls). You don’t know if in the evening there will be a pita (bread) so in the morning you save some for the evening. Everything is very calculated, a quarter of a pita, half a pita to keep for the next morning,” she said.

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