Ada Sagi, a former peace activist who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and later released as part of a hostage deal, shared her harrowing experience and profound change in outlook during an interview with the BBC.
Sagi, who had long advocated for peace, now expresses a markedly different view on the prospects for peace with Hamas and the global perception of Jews.
"I don't believe in peace, no. I don't believe, sorry," Sagi stated in the interview. "I understand Hamas don't want it."
Reflecting on the potential for a resolution, she added that "Israel has to do the deal... bring back home all these hostages who are alive and also dead'
Sagi detailed her captivity, revealing that she initially was hidden in a house with children on the first day of her abduction. She was later moved to a different location in Khan Younis. The owner of the apartment, a nurse, had moved his wife and children to his father-in-law's house to make room for the hostages.
"I heard them say 70 shekels a day. It's a lot of money in Gaza because they have no work. And if you have work not with Hamas, it's no more than 20 shekels for a day," she said.
Sagi expressed disillusionment with claims that ordinary Gazans are uninvolved in the conflict. "People say that they are not involved. They're involved... and getting money for each of us," she said.
She described the uncertainty she felt during the five days of hostage releases in November, not knowing if she would be among those released. "Every knocking on the door you think there is somebody coming to take you," she said.
She said that the day before her release she was taken to Khan Younis and held in Nasser Hospital. The BBC reports that other released hostages also said they had been held there, something the hospital director denies.
She is very emotional about the losses she and her community have experienced.
"I lost my home. I lost my freedom - the whole place that I [have] to go back. Our village - kibbutz - is destroyed," she said.