Freed hostage Maxim Herkin has revealed harrowing details of his captivity, describing how Hamas militants tortured him and other hostages as retaliation for the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. According to Herkin and other former hostages, the abuse intensified whenever news about Israeli officials or policies regarding prisoners surfaced, with the captors explicitly referencing these events as justification for their actions.

Herkin recounted a particularly terrifying moment when he and other captives were lined up against a wall, fearing for their lives as their captors invoked the name of an Israeli official to explain their brutality. The hostages were told that the violence was a form of payback, mirroring what they believed was happening to Palestinian prisoners. These testimonies shed light on the psychological and physical torment endured by hostages during their detention.