In captivity Suffocating rooms, sweets and threats with weapons

A 12-year-old boy who was held hostage in Gaza for 52 days was forced in captivity to watch videos of the atrocities of 7 October, his aunt claimed.

- Emine Sinmaz

Eitan Yahalomi, a French-Israeli national, was kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz with his father, Ohad Yahalomi, who remains captive.

On Monday night Eitan was pictured tightly hugging his mother, B'atSheva, hours after being released as part of the Israel and Hamas ceasefire deal.

The boy had suffered "horrors" at the hands of Hamas, who were "monsters", said his aunt, Deborah Cohen.

She told France's BFM TV: "Hamas forced him to watch films of the horrors, the kind that no one wants to see. They forced him to watch them.

Every time a child cried, they would threaten him with a weapon to shut him up. I wanted to believe Eitan would be well treated. Apparently not. Those people are monsters."

Eitan's entire family, including his mother and two sisters, aged 10 and 20 months, were abducted on what some in Israel now refer to as "Black Saturday". His father was wounded and taken to Gaza, while his mother and sisters managed to escape.

When Eitan arrived in Gaza he was reportedly hit by civilians, according to his aunt who spoke to B'atSheva.