Former Israeli hostage Kuperstein blames Minister Ben Gvir for harsh treatment in Hamas captivity

Former Israeli hostage Bar Kuperstein directly blamed Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for the torture Hamas subjected him to during his two years of difficult captivity. His Hamas captors were reportedly angered by Ben Gvir’s public calls for harsh treatment of terrorists from Hamas and other groups in Israeli jails. 

“They came to us and just beat us up – lined us against the wall and really hit us,” Kuperstein recalled in an interview. “They told us, ‘This is because of Ben Gvir. Whatever he’s doing to our prisoners, you’ll get the same.’ They repeated it several times – came back and beat us again. A week later, they took me to their room, with my eyes covered, and as soon as I entered, I got two punches to the face — like cymbals crashing together,” he revealed.

Kuperstein shared details of the systematic torture and humiliation that he was subjected to during the Hamas captivity. 

“I fell to the floor from the force, and they dragged me by the legs across the room,” he recalled. 

“They stepped on me and humiliated me as much as they could. Then they grabbed my legs, tied them to a stick or metal bar, and that ‘joker’ spoke to me in Hebrew and said, ‘Until now we’ve done nothing. Now you’ll feel in your own flesh what our prisoners feel in your prisons,’” he said. 

Kuperstein feared the Hamas terrorists would mutilate him. 

“I thought, ‘What, are they going to cut off my legs now?’ You think, ‘This could be the end for you.’ You start replaying your whole life – seeing it all before your eyes,” he revealed. 

“They took a stick and started hitting us on the soles of our feet and legs. I remember I crossed my right leg over my left so they’d hit only one leg – at least one would still work. They broke a few of my toes. I couldn’t put weight on my leg for about a month.”

Kuperstein admitted he is angry and disappointed with Ben Gvir. 

“I was angry that it got out into the media,” he said. “You know we’re in their hands – how can you let them take it out on us? You’re a minister in the government; you’re supposed to look out for us. Why aren’t you?”

Kuperstein also addressed the severe lack of food during the captivity. 

“I remember days when there was no food – you had nothing, they wouldn’t bring you any,” he recalled. “There was a guy we called ‘Shchorzik.’ His job, and he said it himself, was: ‘I’m here to make sure you’re not treated too well.’ We didn’t see them eating, but you could tell from their weight – you were shrinking, and they were getting bigger,” he added.

Recently freed hostage Segev Kalfon also confirmed in an interview that “the terrorists beat us brutally every time they saw Ben-Gvir in the media, or when there were events related to their prisoners.”

Last week, Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal revealed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly ignored warnings from the intelligence agency Shin Bet that Ben Gvir’s vocal public statements threatened the lives of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Ben Gvir reportedly rejected the former Shin Bet head Ronen Bar’s call to lower the tensions and Netanyahu did not step in. 

Kuperstein and Kalfon were among the last 20 living hostages that were released earlier this month in a Gaza ceasefire that was brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.