Released hostage: I discovered Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon held in pens

Adina Moshe, who was kidnapped to Gaza on the morning of the October 7 massacre and released in a November 2023 prisoner swap agreement, on Thursday morning spoke for the first time about her meeting with Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon, both still held hostage in Gaza, in Hamas’ terror tunnels.

In her account, Moshe notes that the two were held in pens, like animals.

Speaking to Galei Zahal, Moshe said, “I went over and it was completely dark. I asked, ‘Why are you in a pen?’ They said they didn’t know. When I asked if they had clashed with Hamas – it turned out they had.”

“I gave it two days and then I went to the commander of the group that was guarding us. I told him that I’d heard voices in Hebrew, and I told him, ‘They are from Nir Oz.’ He asked me, ‘How do you know?’ I told him that he should bring them to be with us, and after two days he brought them to us for an hour or so and then brought them back to the pen. The next day they brought them to us another time, for two hours.”

She added that Yarden Bibas told her that he hopes that his wife Shiri and children Ariel (5) and Kfir (1) were not kidnapped by the terrorists.

“Yarden was able to tell me that he left his safe room and went out to the Hamas terrorists,” she recounted. “Shiri and the children remained [in the safe room]. He told me, ‘I really hope that they didn’t make it into them, because all the terrorists who were there in my home grabbed me and brought me to the gathering place in the kibbutz, and from there they took us to Khan Yunis.’ That is what he believed for a long time. At some point, I went to ask Hamas if Shiri and the children were being held by Hamas. They told me it would take time to clarify. From the start, I created a good and fair relationship with the Hamas [guards]. I understood that it would do well for us.”

Moshe also said that she did not watch the footage of the tunnel, which the IDF released earlier this week: “Since October 7, I listen only to music.”