Released hostage Rom Braslavski recounts abuse and starvation during his 738-day captivity in Gaza

(SeaPRwire) –   EXCLUSIVE: In an exclusive interview with Digital, released hostage Rom Braslavski recounted the physical and emotional mistreatment he suffered while held above ground by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, noting that he sometimes survived on only half a pita bread and a piece of cheese. He also reported being injected with an unidentified substance after collapsing from exhaustion while being moved within the Strip.

Braslavski, 19, was taken captive from the Supernova festival during the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023. At the time, he was working as a security guard to fulfill his mandatory military service—a detail he kept hidden for months. For the first four months of his detention, he pretended to be a 16-year-old shawarma vendor at the festival.

Later, a terrorist described by Braslavski as a cyber expert for Palestinian Islamic Jihad arrived with a laptop and headphones and began interrogating him. Fearing his cover was compromised, Braslavski disclosed his true identity.

“They immediately cut my food rations by three-quarters. I was reduced to half a pita, some cheese, a rotten tomato, and a small bottle of water, whereas before I received two or three pitas and a liter of water,” he told Digital.

Braslavski stated that for the subsequent three months, he was kept in solitary confinement without sunlight, describing the isolation as so bleak and lonely that he began banging his head against the wall.

He was then forced to march to a massive camp of approximately 20,000 tents near Nasser Hospital. During the journey, he collapsed from hunger and exhaustion, was injected with an unknown substance, and was compelled to keep moving.

“I was surrounded by Islamic Jihad members. No one told me our destination. I wept, believing they were going to execute me or take me into a tunnel to torture me more severely,” Braslavski told Digital.

“I walked without strength, breathing as if each breath were my last, thinking I would never see daylight again. But I kept going.”

At the camp, Braslavski noted that the tents were densely packed with no privacy, and vehicles destroyed by missiles had been repurposed as makeshift shelters. The camp housed donkeys and camels, and people relieved themselves in the open. He recalled the extreme heat made breathing difficult.

Braslavski stayed in one of these tents for four months. Although the terrorist in charge ordered others not to harm him, one of the four guards—a young man whose name Braslavski withheld—disregarded those instructions.

“He tried everything to break me. Once, he brought me food, spat in it, and made me eat it. He humiliated me constantly. I had a small opening in the tent for air, and he would come and block it. When I said I couldn’t breathe, he would slap me and laugh with the others. He showed me videos of violence against our soldiers. He would tie my hands and feet for no reason,” Braslavski said.

Despite orders against unprovoked physical harm, Braslavski said the guard frequently insulted him, threatened his family, and coerced him into degrading acts until it became intolerable.

Braslavski told Digital that the abuse filled him with overwhelming hatred, leading him to attack the guard with full force, using any available object to inflict injury, eventually succeeding.

“He ran to get his Kalashnikov, and I realized I could either keep fighting or take a bullet to the head. I struck him with all my strength. He grew weak. I was weak too, but my mind and body disconnected from reality, and I continued,” Braslavski recounted.

After three to four minutes, another terrorist intervened, and the guard Braslavski had assaulted was taken to a hospital.

“The following day was the second darkest of my life after Oct. 7. It is etched in my memory, soul, and body. The lead terrorist decided to punish me harshly for my actions, and from that point, I entered a cycle of relentless abuse,” he said.

Braslavski stated that afterward, he was allowed to sleep for no more than an hour and a half per day in short intervals.

“They would strike me with whatever was at hand. I endured severe torture, restraints, and sexual abuse. They did everything possible to harm me. My body is still covered in scars. After four months of torture, I was clinically dead, eyes rolling back and passing out. They decided to stop the violence and brought doctors to treat me with injections and resumed feeding me,” he added.

During Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which commenced in May 2025 with the aim of defeating Hamas and securing hostage releases through military pressure, Braslavski said the terrorist supervising his guards was injured and lost a family member, triggering another round of torture and starvation.

“I weighed 49 kilos (108 pounds), and the senior terrorist, who weighed 90 kilos (198 pounds), would jump on my neck trying to break it. I was on the brink of death again. That was when the propaganda video featuring me was released, and the marks of abuse on my body were visible. My bones were protruding. I could no longer use the bathroom normally. My body was shutting down. I was close to death, and that is when President Donald Trump became involved,” he told Digital.

As negotiations for a deal progressed, Braslavski said his condition slowly improved until his release in October 2025 following 738 days in captivity.

He stated that his faith is what sustains him now that he is free.

“I have a dark past, but I must have a bright future. I want to forget what happened, though I cannot. God gave me back my life as a gift—not just once, but twice. I must do the bare minimum, which is to live, rehabilitate myself, and move on,” he said.