February 8, 2025, should have been a day of joy. After nearly 500 days in captivity, three Israeli hostages—Eli Sharabi, Or Levy, and Ohad Ben Ami—were finally released as part of the ongoing Operation Wings of Freedom. Instead, it became one of the most horrifying displays of sadistic cruelty ever witnessed from Hamas and its terrorist allies.
The hostages, starved, exhausted, and broken, were paraded in a grotesque ceremony before their release, forced to wear Al-Qassam Brigades shirts and participate in a staged event orchestrated by their captors. The images of the three men—frail, barely able to stand, supported by the same terrorists who tormented them—should shock the conscience of the world.
But the world remains silent.
500 Days in Hell
Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas carried out its brutal massacre of over 1,163 Israelis, the fate of the hostages has been a stain on the so-called international community. Israel has been forced into one humiliating deal after another, pressured to release convicted Palestinian terrorists in exchange for innocent civilians who were stolen from their homes. The sheer moral depravity of this equivalence is staggering.
Reports from released hostages have detailed inhumane conditions, physical abuse, starvation, and sexual violence. Hamas has denied access to the Red Cross, blocked humanitarian visits, and used hostages as bargaining chips while the world looked away.
And yet, on February 8, Hamas went even further—humiliating their captives one last time.
A Propaganda Show of Unimaginable Cruelty
Before their release, Eli, Or, and Ohad were dragged into one final performance of Hamas’ sick, twisted theater of terror. They were forced to wear Al-Qassam Brigades shirts, standing weak and barely able to hold themselves up, their bodies broken after nearly 500 days of starvation, abuse, and psychological torment. Their captors—the very same terrorists who tortured them—held them upright, as if to mock their suffering. Cameras rolled as they were coerced into delivering scripted statements, an orchestrated attempt to disguise their misery and whitewash the horrors they had endured.
But no amount of forced words could mask the truth. Their skeletal frames, hollow eyes, and trembling voices told the real story—a story of nearly 500 days in the hands of the most barbaric terror organization in the world. Their bodies bore the evidence of Hamas’ sadistic cruelty, proof of the starvation, medical neglect, and relentless abuse they had endured. Every second of this grotesque performance was designed to serve a single purpose: to humiliate them, to humiliate Israel, and to send a message to the world that Hamas still holds power over life and death.
This was not a “gesture” by Hamas. This was an act of psychological and physical warfare. It was a deliberate display of dehumanization, a final stab of cruelty before their release. It was Hamas relishing in its ability to break human beings, to turn innocent civilians into political pawns, to strip them of their dignity even in their last moments as hostages.
The World Cannot Accept This Reality
The time for negotiations is over. Every remaining hostage must be freed—NOW. No more deals, no more terrorist releases, no more illusions of diplomacy with an enemy that revels in cruelty. Hamas must be destroyed, and the international community must stop enabling its barbarism.
To those who still justify, excuse, or minimize Hamas’ actions—look at the faces of Eli, Or, and Ohad. Look at their suffering. Look at their humiliation. If you remain silent, you are complicit.
This war will not end until every single hostage is home, and until Hamas—the terrorist organization that thrives on the suffering of innocents—is erased from the earth.
