"My daughter is a hero who returned from hell," Daniella Gilboa's father Ran said in his first exclusive interview with Ynet after her release from captivity. "We have a wonderful people who fight for each one of the hostages, and it is our duty to ensure they all return."
Ran, who had stayed out of the public eye during the long weeks since Daniella was abducted from her base during the Hamas massacre on October 7, said his daughter still had shrapnel in her foot and would require surgery.
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Daniella Gilboa and her father after her release from Hamas captivity
(Photo: Yossi Zamir)
"We did not know what had happened to her on October 7. The last thing we knew was that she had heard gunfire and asked us to pray for her. For two days, we had no idea if she was dead or alive. Only after her friend analyzed video footage did we learn that she was lying at the bottom of a car carrying other IDF lookouts, on her way to Gaza."
"The terrorists shot their friends before their eyes and then separated them from the dead. They saw bodies being mutilated and other horrifying things," he said. "After being bound for hours, they were moved to a jeep, while we still thought they were on the base. We were naïve."
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During her time in captivity, Hamas released a video falsely depicting Daniella as dead. "All I could see from that moment was black. Time stopped. After being held hostage for a year, enduring captivity, I thought she had been murdered. But later, we learned the clip was staged. They told her to lie down, covered her with sheets, applied makeup to her face and highlighted her tattoo. They did it on purpose, and at home, we were devastated. We were helpless."
IDF lookouts airlifted to the hospital after their release from Hamas captivity
(Video: IDF)
IDF lookouts abducted during Hamas massacre on Oct. 7
Where was she held?
"She was kept in stifling tunnels where she couldn't stand, as well as in apartments. At one point, there was intense shelling nearby. There was no water, and Daniella and the other girls had to drink contaminated groundwater. It made her gravely ill, and for weeks, she was at death’s door. Some days, they were fed animal feed—inedible scraps of dirty vegetables and some kind of tough flour."
How were they moved around?
"She was with Karina Ariev, a close friend, the entire time. Without the terrorists realizing, she learned fluent Arabic, so they knew what was happening. At some point, Doron Steinbrecher joined them. Daniella was injured, and Doron, a veterinary nurse, dressed her wounds and helped her. All the girls had shrapnel in their bodies, and Doron cared for them as much as she could."
"Daniella is incredibly smart and managed to manipulate her captors into letting her listen to the radio and watch Al Jazeera and i24 on TV. She saw her mother, who fought like a lioness. She said that had the girls been freed two weeks earlier, they would have looked as emaciated as the three hostages who were freed last week. Their captors gave them more food in the days leading up to their release. They were only told they would be freed three days before it happened."
When the IDF lookouts faced the Gazan crowd during their release, they smiled and held up victory signs. "She told the girls to smile and hold their heads high. To be proud Israelis. She is an amazing girl. There are ups and downs, but she survived captivity. Now, she wants to embrace life fully. All of the hostages must be returned as quickly as possible."