In a chilling testimony shared with The Wall Street Journal and Kan 11 News, former hostage Omer Wenkert has revealed disturbing new details of the inhumane treatment he and others endured while held captive by Ham*s in Gaza. Wenkert, who was kidnapped during the October 7 Nova Music Festival massacre and released last month after 505 days, described a brutal regime of psychological and physical torture.

“The terrorists told me to sit like a dog and bark,” Wenkert recalled. “Then one said: ‘You’ll stay like this for 24 hours. Don’t move. If you need to pee – pee on yourself. Like a dog.’ Then they brought in another hostage, Guy Gilboa Dalal, threw him on top of me, and beat us both brutally.”

Wenkert said he was frequently beaten, denied food, and left without basic sanitation. He was confined in a narrow concrete corridor, sealed behind a blast door, and left alone for nearly 200 days. “I feared I was losing my mind,” he said. He survived by pacing the corridor, singing Israeli rap songs, and reciting Psalm 23.

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In his post-release efforts to advocate for the remaining hostages, Wenkert met with the families of fellow captives Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, who were abducted from the Nova festival and are still in captivity. According to Wenkert, both men are being held in a corridor just one meter wide, behind a door, with lights constantly on, under 24/7 surveillance, and forbidden to move, sleep, or even approach the door.

In the first month, Wenkert said, Dalal and David were subjected to severe interrogations, tied up, blindfolded, and forced to face the wall for 34 days. They were held with Bar Kupershtein and Elkana Bohbot, who are also still believed to be alive and in captivity.

Wenkert expressed deep concern that Dalal and David remain under the control of the same terrorist who held him—someone he described as mentally unstable. He said the hostages received just 375 milliliters of water per day, minimal food, and were made to dig a hole in the ground to use as a toilet, all while malnourished and weak.

Since his release, Wenkert has been vocal in urging Israeli and international leaders to prioritize the hostages’ return. “This cannot continue,” he said. “The world must not forget them.”