IDF identified the room where an Israeli hostage was being held in Gaza, using DNA. The family of Liri Elbag, abducted to Gaza during the October 7 massacre, told the UK Daily Mail that the military informed them of their discovery. Their daughter was held with other women captives in the early days of the war.
"When I first saw the images, I was pleased because she was in a child's bedroom," Elbag's mother Shiri told the paper. "There was a closet with children's clothes and it game me a sense of relief that her surroundings were not frightening. But I soon understood that she was being held by a family that had abducted her, not by Hamas terrorists."
Hostages who were released in the November exchange described to her family how Elbag was made to cook and clear for the Gazans while being denied food herself and that she was allowed to shower for the first time only after 37 days in captivity.
She was later taken underground where conditions were dire, her mother said. "40 meters bellow ground, no air or sunlight, with a lot of humidity with no bathroom or water. She drank sea water and ate little. That was 112 days ago. We've heard nothing since."
Sharing photos of happier times with the reporters, Elbag's sister said it is hard for her to look at them.
"It feels like another lifetime," Shai Elbag said as she leafed through the photo album.