“Choose Three Who Will Die”: Ohad Ben Ami's Haunting New Testimony
Forced to plead for their lives, filmed while denouncing their own country, and told to select who among them would die, Ohad Ben Ami’s chilling testimony reveals the unbearable moral torture inflicted by Hamas, as Israel struggles to bring its hostages home.
TwitterAs negotiations to end the war and secure the release of hostages in Gaza inch forward, a chilling testimony from one of the longest-held captives has cast a stark light on the brutality faced by Israelis abducted by Hamas.
Ohad Ben Ami, 56, a survivor of nearly 500 days in captivity, recounted in the Knesset a harrowing moment during his imprisonment. In a scene that seems almost unfathomable, a Hamas militant forced a group of six hostages to make an impossible choice: select three who would be executed and three who would be maimed by a bullet to the knee.
“One day, a month before my release, a militant called six of us over, pressed the clutch, and said: ‘Choose three who will die and three who will get a bullet in the knee,’” Ben Ami said, his voice steady but heavy with the weight of memory. “Each of us had to explain why we should die or live.”
The ordeal lasted an agonizing hour. The captors filmed the entire process, pressing the hostages not only to plead for their lives but also to denounce the Israeli government and state. “They gave us a chance to speak, maybe to spare us. Then they forced us to speak badly about our government and our country,” Ben Ami told lawmakers. “It ended as if they had forgiven us.”
The trauma extended far beyond that moment. “Afterwards, we returned to our place and I sat there thinking, ‘What just happened?’” he said. “Amidst all the horrors, there were things so surreal, so insane.”
Ben Ami was abducted on October 7, 2023, alongside his wife Raz from their home in Be’er Ya’akov. Raz was released after 54 days in the first hostage exchange deal. Ohad endured 491 days in captivity before his release earlier this year. The couple’s three daughters, Yuli, Ella, and Natalie, lived through the anguish and uncertainty of their parents’ fates. Natalie was away at the time of the abduction, with her partner in Nahal Oz.
Ben Ami’s testimony comes as about 50 hostage, both alive and deceased, remain in Gaza, held for over 634 days.
In sharing his story, Ben Ami aims not only to shed light on the cruelty inflicted by Hamas but also to press for swift action to bring every captive home. His words echo beyond the chamber, a haunting reminder of the stakes still at play amid a Hamas that has claimed countless lives.