Released hostage Roni Krivoi is lucky to be alive. Not only did he survive the October 7 bloodbath at the Nova Music Festival, where hundreds of young peaceniks and music lovers were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists, but he also managed to escape his captors for several days before being turned in by some residents of Gaza.
Krivoi, an Israeli-Russian, is one of the 17 hostages released Sunday during the temporary ceasefire; he was reportedly released at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hamas had kind words for Putin upon Krivoi's return to Israel: “In response to the efforts of Russian president Putin and in appreciation of the Russian position in support of the Palestinian cause, we released a detainee who holds Russian citizenship."
Krivoi was working as a sound technician at the music festival that fateful day in October and managed to evade the terrorists for a short while: “His friend was in contact with him until 10:30 a.m. Roni told him that he heard the sounds of terrorists, and around 10:40 the friend called him and they answered in Arabic. He said ‘Roni, Roni,’ and they laughed and disconnected the phone, and after that contact was lost.”
Elena Magid, Roni Krivoi's aunt, revealed Monday that her nephew had actually escaped his captors in Gaza after the building in which he was being held collapsed following an Israeli airstrike. “He managed to escape and hid alone for several days. In the end, the Gazans captured him and returned him to the terrorists’ hands,” she said.
After the collapse of the building, Krivoi reportedly dug through the rubble and managed to free himself, despite sustaining head trauma during his escape. He decided to hide in the Gaza Strip because he was in unfamiliar territory and managed to avoid being recaptured for four days. He was eventually found by a group of Gaza residents, who handed him back over to Hamas.
Magid added:
“He tried to reach the border, but I think because he didn’t have the means to understand where he was and where to escape to, he got tangled up in the area. For several days – four days – he was alone. I asked him how do you feel? Do you have nightmares at night? He told me, ‘Listen, I have nightmares, but everything is alright.'”
Krivoi's aunt noted that he is healthy and in good condition despite needing stitches for his head injury.
We may never know the exact details of what happened to Roni Krivoi during his captivity and the four days he spent hiding from his terrorist captors, but we do know a few things for sure. We know that Krivoi did everything he could to stay out of the clutches of his enemies so that he could return to his family. We also know that the Gazans who found him opted not to render him aid, but instead to return him to captivity. This is important information to have when the legacy media and the bloodthirsty hordes in the streets try to paint the residents of Gaza as peace-seeking innocents. They spit on Shani Louk's body, they dragged the bodies of dead IDF soldiers through their streets and they jeered at the vehicles taking the released hostages into Egypt. Freedom fighters they are not.
These people are not victims of Hamas. They are Hamas.