Agam Berger, an IDF lookout who was released after 482 days of captivity in Gaza said she was terrified by the IDF bombings of Gaza untill she grew used to them. ""Some of it was terrifying, especially at first, because you’re not used to it. You feel the house shaking. I live in the center of the country—these are not things I’m familiar with. But over time, the fear subsided a bit." She said she had been moved around nearly every month by her captors hoping to keep her location secret.
Berger recounted her experiences in a meeting with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto. She told him she and Liri Albag were held together often in the homes of Palestinian families.
Agam meets the Rabbi
She said the two would sometimes listen to the radio and sing, but they were silenced when doing so. "They would tell you to be quiet because the neighbors could hear Hebrew from outside," she said and explained that the neighbors were unaware of their presence and the Hamas guards were worried that they might hear Hebrew spoken.
Berger said she only found out two days before, that she was abut to be released. She and Albag had attempted to keept track of days and dates on their own, but they didn’t always have access to a calendar.
Berger also spoke with the rabbi about her connection to Judaism and her efforts to observe Jewish holidays during her captivity. She had argued with one of her captors because she refused to read from the Quran they provided her. Later, she said, she received two Jewish prayer books. "Soldiers left two prayer books somewhere," she explained. "The mayor of Gaza received items from his ‘soldiers,’ and they found two prayer books, a newspaper, and a book by a rabbi—I forgot the name—and they gave them to us. They didn’t know what it was. They saw it was in Hebrew and had an IDF stamp." But the girls were not allowed to take the books with them when they were released.
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Berger told Pinto she did everything she could to observe Passover. "There were no matzot, but for me, it was clear that I would try to observe as much as I could," she said. "I asked them for cornmeal and dates—whatever was available—because it was a time when there were no vegetables or many other things." She also ate rice and even used separate utensils and disposable cutlery. "Liri and I drew a Haggadah, as we remembered it. It created a holiday atmosphere. Liri made decorations and table arrangements," she emphasized.
On Tisha B’Av the girls fasted. "We saw on television when they read the Hebrew and Gregorian dates in the news, and then we counted. I don’t remember exactly which date it was in the month of Av, but we kept track," she said.
On Yom Kippur, Berger said she asked the captors to tell her when the fast would take place. "We told them, 'We have holidays now, please try to check for us,' and somehow they managed to find out," she said. "I hope it was the accurate date—I honestly don’t know if it was correct or not, but that’s what they told us."