During the two months he was held captive in Gaza, militants bound Andrei Kozlov’s hands and feet, leaving scars on his body, as they tried to convince him that the outside world, including his parents, had given up on him.
“Your mother is on vacation in Greece,” the gunman told him. “Your mother knows nothing about you and doesn’t want to know.”
Kozlov’s parents recounted his eight-month captivity in interviews after he and three other hostages were rescued by Israeli commandos on Saturday in central Gaza in an operation that left dozens of Palestinians dead. The details add to the abuses that have been described by those freed during a temporary ceasefire in November. Physically and emotionally and Even sexual abuse.
The risky rescue operation lifted Israeli spirits and sparked spontaneous celebrations, but it also highlighted the plight of the more than 100 hostages, living and dead, still stranded in Gaza.
“He said it was very difficult,” said his mother, Evgeniia Kozlova, who spoke with his father, Mikhail Kozlov, this week in Tel Aviv to The New York Times. “It’s hard to put it into words.”
Hamas has said it treated the hostages better than Israel treats Palestinian prisoners, a claim Israeli officials strongly dispute. Kozlova said the kidnappers were clearly engaging in psychological warfare, telling Kozlov, a 27-year-old Russian-Israeli, that the Israeli government considered the hostages a burden.
“They told Andre to keep quiet because these hostages were a problem for Israel,” she said. “They said Israel could solve the problem any way it wanted, including killing the hostages so they wouldn’t have to think about them anymore.”
The militants’ claims had an impact on Mr. Kozlov — so much so, she said, that when Israeli troops arrived to rescue him in a civilian area in central Gaza, he was initially unsure whether they were coming to save him or to kill him.
Since the war began, Israeli forces have rescued only seven hostages, out of a total of 250 people abducted to Gaza during a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7. (In November, 100 hostages were freed as part of a brief ceasefire; at least a third of the 120 hostages remaining in Gaza have died, according to Israeli authorities.) The rescue operation last week also left more than 200 Palestinians dead, many of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
Israel criticized Hamas for taking hostages in civilian areas. Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad Sunday said The group has tried to keep civilians out of the conflict. But Hamas has used Gaza’s urban areas to provide additional protection for its fighters and weapons infrastructure, digging tunnels beneath residential areas, setting up rocket launchers near civilian homes and taking hostages in city centers.
Kozlov’s mother said that unlike other hostages, Kozlov was never taken into Gaza’s vast network of underground tunnels and that guards told him that his situation was much better than other hostages. She said that while he was in captivity, he was always fed, but usually simple fare such as pita bread, cheese and tomatoes.
Kozlov’s mother added that during his captivity, Kozlov went out only at night when he was moved to a new location. She said he was moved several times during the war.
Andrei’s father, Kozlov, said that months ago he and his wife discussed whether they wanted to rescue their son through military action or release him through a diplomatic agreement, and they both favored a deal. But since no deal was reached, he said they wanted to bring their son home by any means possible.
Asked about the Palestinian civilians who died in the operation to rescue his son, Kozlov said he was saddened by their deaths.
“If there is such a possibility to avoid these victims, it would be better,” he said.
