In July 2026, after more than two years of maintaining silence to protect her husband remaining behind, hostage survivor Rimon Kirsht Buchshtab detailed the full extent of her captivity, physical resistance, and survival in the Gaza Strip. Her account reveals a story of unconditional love, direct confrontation with Hamas leaders, and extreme physical and psychological torture inside a tiny porcelain cage deep underground.
The Invasion of Kibbutz Nirim and Violent Abduction
On the morning of October 7, 2023, Rimon and Yagev Buchshtab, married musicians from Kibbutz Nirim, were trapped in their bedroom alongside their five dogs and five cats. As terrorists detonated the home's gas tank and fired through the windows, Rimon retrieved a Santoku kitchen knife. When the first attacker breached the bedroom window carrying Yagev’s guitar, Rimon charged and wounded him with the knife. The couple managed to push him out and lock the door, but a mob of approximately 25 armed terrorists quickly surrounded the residence.
Realizing the door was about to give way, Rimon and Yagev committed to staying together at all costs. They embraced tightly and locked their arms and legs around each other. "I told him: 'Baby, let's hold hands, one closing the other, and not let go.' Something inside me said that if we let go, it was the end," she recalled. The captors were unable to pry them apart, forcing five terrorists to lift both of them together, still locked in an embrace, and drag them across the ground. During the violent abduction onto a pickup truck, Rimon acted as a shield for Yagev, sustaining severe burns, head trauma, facial fractures, and a broken wrist. The terrorists looted their home, taking Yagev's guitar and their heavy tandem bicycle.
Confronting Yahya Sinwar Above Ground
During the initial period of captivity, the couple was held in hideout apartments above ground. In one location, a meeting occurred with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Sinwar entered accompanied by captors and asked Rimon to communicate in English and Hebrew block letters, presenting a notebook to catalog the names, ID numbers, nationalities, and addresses of the hostages.
Rimon asked to speak with Sinwar privately, pulling him aside to confront him directly:
"I have read the Quran in Hebrew three times. I know what Islam says. It is a beautiful religion. What your guys are doing here has nothing to do with Islam. It is the antithesis."
Sinwar conceded, replying, "You are right." Rimon then demanded proper medical supplies for the hostages and insisted on an immediate transfer underground into the tunnel network to escape continuous airstrikes. Sinwar provided tea and medication, and the order to move the hostages underground was subsequently issued.
Psychological and Physical Torture in the Porcelain Cage
Once brought deep underground into the tunnels, the captors locked Rimon and Yagev inside a microscopic cage constructed from porcelain tiles and metal bars. Their captors, who called them "The Majnoons" (the crazy ones) due to their refusal to be separated, subjected them to systematic physical and psychological abuse:
- Pitch Black Isolation: For four consecutive days, captors cut all power and ventilation to the cage, creating absolute darkness. Within 48 hours, sensory deprivation induced hallucinations and psychotic states, including visions of corpses moving along the walls.
- Psychological Cruelty: Captors left a can of cat food outside the cage as a psychological test to see when they would break. Recognizing the need for sustenance, Rimon convinced Yagev to eat it using their bare hands for essential fats and proteins.
- Sleep Deprivation: Following the period of total darkness, captors switched on a rapidly flickering fluorescent light for two straight days to prevent sleep.
- Sanitation Abuse: The toilet in the cage was an open cesspool pipe connected to adjacent holding cells. When a blockage occurred and captors refused to provide a plunger, Rimon cleared the sewage using her bare hands.
Physical Resistance and Self-Operated Medical Care
Throughout her captivity, Rimon actively fought back to protect Yagev:
- The Fork Strike: In their initial hideout, Rimon concealed a fork beneath her mattress. When a captor moved to strike Yagev, Rimon drew the fork and stabbed the captor in the hand. When he asked in surprise, "You crazy?", she replied in Arabic, "Ana majnoona" (I am crazy).
- Absorbing Physical Attacks: Rimon repeatedly shielded Yagev's body during beatings, enduring punches, kicks, cuts from broken glass, torn fingernails, and being suspended by her bound hands from the ceiling.
- Self-Extracted Tooth: After suffering a blow to the face from a captor's squeegee handle that damaged her jaw, an infected tooth became loose. To prevent captors from inflicting further pain, she demanded pliers, sent Yagev away so he would not watch, and pulled the tooth out herself inside the cage.
Release and Final Defiance
In late November 2023, during a temporary release agreement, captors informed Rimon she was being freed. Rimon refused to leave without Yagev and begged to remain in the cage. Fellow hostage Yarden Bibas, held nearby, approached the bars and urged her to leave to save herself and report on their conditions.
Threatened with being forcibly bound and dragged, Rimon parted from Yagev with a final embrace and mutual promises of love. During her transfer to the Red Cross, Rimon maintained a firm, proud posture. Before entering the vehicle, she confronted her masked captor in Arabic, warning him:
"If you think that being masked means I don't recognize you and remember everything you did to me and Yagev—you are big time wrong. Enough with Hamas, 'Kul kalb biji yomo' (Every dog has his day)."
The Aftermath
Upon her return to Israel, Rimon suffered from physical injuries and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD). She campaigned for Yagev's release until July 2024, when the IDF confirmed that Yagev Buchshtab had been killed in captivity in February 2024. His body was later recovered by security forces. Today, Rimon continues her rehabilitation and rebuilding efforts in southern Israel near the Gaza border, holding onto Yagev's legacy as she moves forward.
