Yuval Getreuer, a kindergarten teacher and stand-up comedian, posted on Tuesday on Facebook about his encounter with a foreign former hostage in Ethiopia during travel through Ethiopia. The former hostage, called Peter to maintain his anonymity, was kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas on October 7 and released after 49 days in captivity. Peter claimed to have met Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during his captivity. "He is the ugliest person I have ever met in my life and a moron," Peter told Getreuer.
According to Getreuer, during the shuttle ride to the hotel after landing in Ethiopia, Peter told him that Sinwar spoke fluent Hebrew. "Once he asked me, 'How are you? Is everything okay?' I thought to myself, is everything okay?! How do you think I am you moron," Getreuer quoted from his conversation with Peter.
"Shani and I landed for a long connection in Ethiopia," wrote Getreuer at the beginning of his post. "We boarded the shuttle that would take us to an Ethiopian hotel. I sat down on the bench. To my right sat Shaniki (Shani), and to my left sat a cute Asian guy (Peter). He asked where was I from and I answered that I was from Israel. He asked where in Israel and I answered from Tel Aviv. He smiled and said in mixed English and Hebrew, 'I am hatufim (hostages).'"
"I told him that I appreciate it and it's a shame that the whole world isn't on the side of the hostages. He told me 'No, no, I was kidnapped. I am from the Gaza border.' He pulled out his cell phone and showed me a picture of him in a 'Bring Them Home' poster. I looked at the poster on his phone and he was smiling. I looked up at him and he smiled there too."
"What do you say in this situation? I was shocked. I turned to Shani and told her that he had been kidnapped to Gaza. She was as shocked as I was. I asked Peter 'Are you okay?' These are the only words I could find. He replied that he was on his way to visit his family, and he shared a little about the compensation money he received. Thanks to the money, he can visit them more often. My mind thought 'at least something good came out of all this', and because I'm stupid that thought came out of my mouth. He said, 'It's just a shame I had to be in Gaza for 49 days.' He laughed and so we laughed awkwardly," the post continued.
"We sat for a while in silence. I wanted to ask him questions but I was afraid to pry. I told myself that he was the one who started the conversation and defined himself as a hostage, he surely wants to talk about it. I asked him if I could ask questions, and he said of course, as if he was waiting for me to ask him."
"I asked how he survived there, knowing he could be killed any day. I asked if he was in the tunnels and he said yes, and he listed a long list of names of people and children who were in captivity with him, names we all know, some were released, some were murdered and some are still there. He told us that the terrorists asked him what he did for a living, and he answered that he was taking care of adults, so the terrorists gave him a job to take care of all the elderly hostages. That must have given him strength and kept him from feeling helpless by taking care of others."
Getreuer continued: "Another minute of silence passed, during which I looked out the window of the shuttle, and realized that I was in Africa for the first time in a foreign land with a fascinating landscape, and I can't be bothered. I am with Peter and nothing else exists in the world except for his sweet face. I was in deep thought of how to move this conversation forward when suddenly he turned to me and said to me: 'I met Sinwar.'"
"Shani and I screamed in the taxi in disbelief 'No!' And he smiled and laughed and said, 'Yes, yes, he is the ugliest person I have ever met in my life, and a moron.'" According to Peter, "Every so often Sinwar would come to meet us, the hostages, he speaks excellent Hebrew. Once he asked me, 'How are you? Is everything okay?' I thought to myself, 'Is everything okay?! What do you think you moron?' This Peter is a funny guy."
When the three left the cab, Getreuer didn't know how to say goodbye. "I wanted to give him a hug, I wanted to give him a medal, I wanted us to be good friends and travel together. In the end we just said shalom, which at that moment felt more like a greeting than a goodbye."
There are still 11 foreign citizens who are being held in captivity in Gaza who were taken from their place of work in the Gaza border communities. According to estimates, eight of them are Thai citizens, most of whom came to Israel to support their families. Two more are from Nepal and Tanzania. Overall, Hamas has released 23 Thai hostages so far, after Thailand held talks with Arab and Muslim countries, including Hamas' benefactor, Iran. On October 7, 49 Thais were murdered in the massacre.