TEL AVIV, Israel — When Luis Har was kidnapped by Hamas-led militants on the warm morning of Oct. 7, 2023, he was forced into Gaza wearing shorts and a T-shirt. As his captivity stretched into weeks and then months, the cold, wet winter set in, bringing along with it a dread he had never endured before.
“I felt a penetrating cold in my bones,” said Har, 71, who was rescued in mid-February in an Israeli military raid. With no heating in the apartment where he was held, the cold from the floor permeated his thin mattress at night. Fighting outside shattered the apartment windows, sending in rain and wind.
\While Har is spending this winter warm and free, dozens of hostages still in captivity are not. Their families and supporters are desperate for a ceasefire deal to bring an end to their 15-month-long nightmare.
“Winter makes it much harder, much more complicated,” said Har. “They must return as quickly as possible.”
The hostages often experience the same dire circumstances as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, whether it be food scarcity, the dangers from Israeli bombardments or the winter. The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack, has displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, many of whom are weathering a second winter in tents that are barely holding up against the wind, rain and temperatures that can drop below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night.
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