Released hostage Omer Wenkert shared his captivity experience at an Israeli Bar Association conference, stating, "Near the entrance to Rafah, there was deliberate starvation, abuse and psychological torture, and they would risk my life for their amusement." According to him, the captor "would bring pest control spray and spray it on my face, forcing me to keep my eyes open." Wenkert added that "there was a phase when the captor started beating me with an iron rod, and then there was severe starvation where I received only half a pita bread for two to three weeks, mostly covered with fungi and mold."