“It’s irreparable”: almost a month after their release by Hamas, the trauma of Erez and Sahar Kalderon

Are we heading towards a new truce in the Gaza Strip? After more than two months of war, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Egypt on Wednesday for talks on a truce in the war with Israel. In recent days, both camps have increased signals in favor of a new humanitarian pause which would notably allow the release of hostages held in Gaza.

Negotiated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, a previous one-week break allowed the release of 105 hostages at the end of November, including Erez, 12, and his sister, Sahar Kalderon, 16. These two Franco-Israelis, now safe, are trying to rebuild their lives. Their older cousin, Ange Kalderon, 68, who lives in the Paris region, communicates daily with their mother and wife of Ofer Kalderon, still in the hands of Hamas. Be careful, some comments may be shocking.

“His sister had to explain to him what gang rape was”

“Sahar and Erez are survivors. They are not liberated people. Erez has rediscovered his naivety and his joy as a 12-year-old child. Sahar is destroyed. You just have to see his face. When Erez saw women being “collectively rape, he questioned his sister who had to explain to him what rape was and what collective rape was”, testifies Ange Kalderon at the microphone of Europe 1.

What Sahar saw is “irreparable”

“Seeing people being burned half alive, seeing a pregnant woman being disembowelled, seeing the fetus taken out and crushed with a kick… That, for a 16-year-old child who understands things, is irreparable. The children said: ‘Mom, when are we going to see him again, Dad?’ Their mother must have told them, ‘listen my darlings, I’m sure we’ll see him again but when, I can’t tell you.’ And I add, I don’t know if we’ll see him again in a coffin or for good,” he slips.

According to Israel, 129 people, kidnapped on October 7, are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.