Yarden, released from Hamas captivity, spoke about the decision that saved her 3-year-old daughter

Yarden Roman Gat, who was abducted into Gaza and released as part of the deal with Hamas, told the "60 Minutes" TV program about her abduction, captivity and the ongoing struggle to free all the hostages.

In a short excerpt from the interview, Yarden was asked about the decision to hand over her 3-year-old daughter Gefen to her husband Alon while they were trying to flee from the terrorists. "Keeping her with me meant we both would either die or end up in Gaza," she said.

Yarden explained that she decided to give an interview because Carmel, her husband's sister, and many others are still being held captive, and everything must be done to release them.

Yarden, Alon and Gefen were abducted from their parents' home at Kibbutz Be'eri on the 'Black Shabbat' of Oct. 7.

After the kidnappers put them in the car, they managed to jump out and run away. In a quick decision, Yarden handed Gefen over to Alon, who managed to run faster and escape from the terrorists. Yarden was released as part of the sixth round of the prisoner exchange on Nov. 29.

The threat that Chen received, just before she was released: “Don’t go back to the kibbutz.”

Chen Goldstein Almog was kidnapped with her three children - Agam, Gal and Tal - from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, while her husband Nadav and their eldest daughter Yam were murdered.

Chen and her three children were released as part of the deal with Hamas. In an interview with The New York Times, Chen recounted that, as her captivity was ending, one of the kidnappers threatened her: "Don’t return to your kibbutz, don’t go back to a place so close to Gaza. Go to Tel Aviv or somewhere further – because we will return." Chen replied, "Next time you come, don’t throw a grenade, just knock on the door."

Chen spoke about conversations she had with her captors, where they told her about their families, their lives, and the extreme danger they all faced. One of the kidnappers even apologized for the murder of her husband and daughter by Hamas terrorists, saying it was a mistake that went against the Quran. Chen acknowledged that she and her children did not suffer physical abuse but during their captivity, they were moved from place to place and met other hostages who had been abused, including women who had been sexually assaulted. 

She also recounted that she was held with her children mostly in a room in an apartment, with the windows almost always closed, except for a short time in the early morning hours. Other places they were transferred to include apartments, tunnels, a mosque and a destroyed supermarket.

Chen, a social worker, said in the interview that she knows how to keep people engaged in long conversations, and did so with her captors to keep her children safe. The captors who guarded them taught her son Gal 250 Arabic words to keep him busy. Most days they ate pita bread with cheese, and in the earlier days, there were also some vegetables. Chen noted that the captors did not like it when her children cried and asked them to stop immediately.