Beatings, starvation, and face-to-face encounter with Hamas commander: Eitan Mor’s captivity survival story

Tzvika Mor, the father of former hostage Eitan Mor, spoke this morning (Sunday) in an interview with Kalman Liebskind and Asaf Liberman on Kan Reshet Bet about his son’s survival journey during the two years he was held captive in Gaza – a period marked by severe conditions, starvation, and a chilling encounter with Hamas’ Gaza City brigade commander.

“Eitan is sharing endlessly what he went through,” his father said. “He came back thin, weak, and pale – but with spirit.”

According to Tzvika, Eitan’s hands were tied behind his back for the first three days after being taken to Gaza, and during his first year in captivity he was held completely alone. Over the two years, he was moved around 40 hiding places, all in Gaza City – both above and below ground.

Tzvika added that his son survived on food scraps: “He went through periods of extreme hunger and was given only a few spoonfuls of rice a day. Eitan saw Gazans killing each other over rice or a pita. Even the terrorists holding him had very little food.”

In the interview, Tzvika recounted how Eitan once managed to steal a pita, but the terrorist guarding him beat him severely afterward. "What saved him was the terrorist’s wife, who screamed at her husband to stop," he said.

Tzvika also revealed that during his captivity, Eitan met with Izz al-Din Haddad, Hamas’ Gaza City Brigade Commander and one of the organization’s last remaining senior figures in Gaza: “He said this was a level-headed man one could talk to, who insisted the hostages be treated decently. Sometimes he even threatened the other terrorists that if anything happened to Eitan – he would kill them.”

Eitan Mor, 25, from Jerusalem, was abducted to Gaza on Oct. 7 from the Nova music festival near Re’im, where he was working as a security guard. Eitan and his colleague Elikim Libman, who was murdered in the attack, helped evacuate partygoers and treat the wounded. During their escape attempt, they assisted two injured women. At that moment, an RPG missile was fired at them, and Eitan was kidnapped.

He was released after 738 days in Hamas captivity as part of the hostage release phase under U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza.