Chen-Goldstein Almog, 48, was abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza to Gaza along with three of her children Tal, 9, Gal, 11, and Agam, 17, after her husband Nadav, H’yd and her oldest daughter Yam, Hy’d, 20, were murdered in front of her eyes. Chen, who was released during the ceasefire over two weeks ago, spoke to The New York Times about her seven-week ordeal. She said that she and her children were held together and were not treated badly or physically harmed. But during her weeks of captivity, she was moved a number of times and met other hostages who were treated badly, including two women who were sexually abused. Most of the time they were held in a room in an apartment in Gaza but she was also moved to different apartments, tunnels, a mosque, and even a destroyed supermarket. Chen said that the strangest part of her ordeal was the long conversations she had with her captors. They sometimes went on for hours – perhaps because she used to be a social worker and knew how to keep people talking. One of the captors actually apologized for the murder of her husband and her daughter. “It was a mistake and against the Quran,” he told her. Chen said that the apology was followed by a long tension-filled silence. “I didn’t respond,” she said. “I didn’t feel I could express any negative feelings.” Sometimes her children would cry and the captors would order them to stop immediately. “And if for a moment, I would sit and sink in my thoughts,” she said, the lead captor “would directly ask me what I was thinking. I couldn’t move from room to room without an armed guard accompanying me. Once, my two sons were arguing, and the guard raised his voice at one of them, which was scary.” Before they were released, the lead captor told Chen: “Don’t go back to your kibbutz. Don’t return to a place so close to Gaza. Go to Tel Aviv or somewhere farther north. Because we’re coming back.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)