EXCLUSIVE: Former hostage Rom Braslavski said he endured physical and emotional abuse while held above ground by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, at times surviving on just half a pita bread and a morsel of cheese, and that he was injected with an unknown substance after collapsing from exhaustion during a transfer in the Strip, he told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.

Braslavski, 19, was abducted from the Supernova festival during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, where he had been working as a security guard while completing his mandatory military service — a fact he concealed for months. During the first four months of his captivity, he posed as a 16-year-old who sold shawarma at the festival.

A terrorist he described as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cyber expert later arrived with a laptop and headphones and began questioning him. Fearing his cover had been blown, Braslavski then revealed his identity.

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«They immediately reduced my food by three-quarters. I was on half a pita, a bit of cheese, a rotten tomato and a small bottle of water, when before I received two or three pitas and a liter of water,» he told Fox News Digital.

For the next three months, Braslavski said he was held in isolation without daylight, describing the experience as so dark and lonely that he began hitting his head against the wall.

At that point, he was forced to walk to a sprawling complex of about 20,000 tents near Nasser Hospital. Along the way, he collapsed from hunger and exhaustion, was injected with an unknown substance and forced to continue moving.

«I was encircled by members of Islamic Jihad. Nobody told me where we were going. I cried, thinking they were either going to kill me or take me to a tunnel to torture me more aggressively,» Braslavski told Fox News Digital.

Rom Braslavski and Mayor of Jerusalem Moshe Lion at the Jerusalem Winner Marathon. (Jerusalem Marathon/Arnon Bossani)

«I walked without energy, breathing air as if those were my last breaths, thinking it would be the last time I would see the light of day. I kept going,» he added.

At the complex, Braslavski said tents were tightly packed with no privacy, while vehicles destroyed by missiles had been converted into makeshift shelters. The camp included donkeys and camels, and people relieved themselves in the open. He described extreme heat that made it difficult to breathe.

Braslavski remained in one such tent for four months. While the terrorist in charge instructed others not to abuse him, one of the four guards — a young man whose name he could not share — ignored those orders.

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«He did everything he could to break me. Once, he brought me food, spat in it, and forced me to eat it. He humiliated me constantly. I had a small opening in the tent to breathe air, and he would come by and close it. When I told him I couldn’t breathe, he would slap me and laugh with the others. He showed me videos of violence against our soldiers. He would bind my hands and feet for no reason,» Braslavski said.

Although he was not supposed to be physically harmed without cause, Braslavski said the guard routinely insulted him, threatened his family, and forced him into degrading acts until it became unbearable.

Rom Braslavski was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival Oct. 7, 2023.  (The Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

Braslavski told Fox News Digital that the abuse left him overwhelmed by hatred, prompting him to attack the guard with all his strength and use whatever he could find around him to inflict harm, ultimately succeeding.

«He started to run to get his Kalashnikov, and I realized I could either continue or take a bullet to the head. I kept hitting him with all my strength. He became weak. I was also weak, but my body and mind disconnected from everything, and I continued,» Braslavski recounted.

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Reef Peretz, chairman of the Nova Foundation, looks at the names and faces of people killed during the Nova festival at «The Nova Music Festival Exhibition Oct. 7th 06:29 AM, The Moment Music Stood Still» April 18, 2024, in New York City. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images for The Nova Music Festival Exhibition)

After three to four minutes, another terrorist intervened and the guard Braslavski had attacked was taken to hospital.

«The day that followed was the second darkest of my life after Oct. 7. It is marked in my memory, my soul and my body. The chief terrorist decided to respond severely to what I did, and from there I entered a loop of constant abuse,» he said.

Braslavski said he was thereafter allowed to sleep no more than an hour and a half per day, in short intervals.

«They would hit me with whatever they had on hand. I underwent severe torture, bondage and sexual abuse. Everything they could do to me, they did. My body is still covered in scars. After four months of torture, I was clinically dead—rolling my eyes and passing out. They decided to stop the violence and brought doctors to treat me with injections and gave me food again,» he added.

Rom Braslavski and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni (Office of the Prime Minister of Italy  )

During Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which began in May 2025 with the stated goal of defeating Hamas and securing the return of hostages through military pressure, Braslavski said the terrorist overseeing his guards was injured and lost a family member, triggering another cycle of torture and starvation.

«I weighed 49 kilos, and the senior terrorist, who weighed 90 kilos, would jump on my neck and try to break it. I was on the verge of death again. That is when the propaganda video showing me was released, and it is possible to see marks on my body from the abuse. My bones were protruding. I could no longer go to the bathroom normally. Everything in my body stopped functioning. I was close to death, and that is when President Donald Trump came into the picture,» he told Fox News Digital.

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With each step forward in negotiations toward a deal, Braslavski said his condition gradually improved, until he was released in October 2025 after 738 days in captivity.

What keeps him going as a free man, he said, is his faith.

«I have a dark past, but I must have a bright future. I want to forget what happened, although I can’t. God gave me back my life as a gift—not once, but twice. I need to do at least the minimum, which is to live, rehabilitate myself and put this all behind me,» he said.

A progressive Democrat vying for a hotly contested New York swing seat in November’s midterm elections is defending her association with controversial far-left streamer Hasan Piker.

Effie Phillips-Staley is facing backlash from her own party as she seeks the nomination to take on Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., after she went on Piker’s livestream in late March and called Israel an «apartheid state» and accused the Jewish nation of genocide in Gaza.

Democratic county chairs within the suburban New York district Phillips-Staley is running to represent put out a joint statement denouncing Phillips-Staley for participating in the «normalization of antisemitic, racist and misogynist rhetoric.»

Despite the intraparty criticism, the candidate doubled down. She told Fox News Digital that Piker, 34, provides a vehicle for Democrats to reach young voters.

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«While I don’t align with every word Hasan Piker has ever said, we recognize the massive value of a platform that engages millions of young people in the Democratic process,» Phillips-Staley said.

«As Democrats, our job is to build bridges, not burn them,» she added in a statement to Fox News Digital. «We should be inviting young people into the process by building a coalition rooted in collective humanity. I will always fight for universal human rights, and Palestinian self determination while standing firmly against anti-Semitism.»

Piker once said «America deserved 9/11.» He has since characterized that remark as «inappropriate.»

The streamer has been sharply criticized for calling some Orthodox Jews «inbred» and once described a listener who voiced disapproval of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel as a «bloodthirsty violent pig dog.» He has denied charges of antisemitism despite continuing to argue that Hamas is «a thousand times better» than Israel.

Phillips-Staley, who is endorsed by the left-wing Working Families Party and former progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y.,  has largely defended Piker’s controversial comments. She has argued that critics have taken some of his remarks out of context and that he is «on the right side of history» on issues related to Israel and the Palestinian people, during an appearance on the Left Hook podcast.

A campaign spokesman for Rep. Lawler slammed Phillips-Staley’s defense of Piker.

«Embracing an antisemite who praised the 9/11 attacks and sympathizes with terrorists is no longer disqualifying in the modern Democratic Party, and Effie Phillips-Staley is proving that in real time,» Ciro Riccardi told Fox News Digital. «Even worse, her Democratic opponents refusing to call Effie out for such offensive behavior shows you just how radical you need to be to win a Democratic primary today.»

«Middle of the road voters should take notice and ask themselves whether this who they really want in control of the House,» he added, referring to House Democrats.

National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole was also critical of Phillips-Staley’s primary opponents — former Biden administration national security official Cait Conley and Rockland County legislator Beth Davidson — for not condemning Phillips-Staley’s appearance on Piker’s livestream.

Conley and Davidson have expressed support for Israel, and the former is backed by the pro-Israel group, Democratic Majority for Israel PAC.

Spokespersons for Davidson and Conley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democratic House candidate Effie Phillips-Staley has defended her appearance on controversial personality Hasan Piker’s livestream. (Udo Salters/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images : Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

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Phillips-Staley is among a growing number of progressive Democrats embracing Piker ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have been interviewed by Piker on his show.

Piker recently headlined a campaign event earlier in April for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ preferred Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

But not all Democrats think the party’s embracing of Piker is a good idea.

A swath of Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., have distanced themselves from the far-left influencer’s platform, citing concern about his past statements.

Phillips-Staley maintains that her hardening anti-Israel stance is the pathway to victory in the battleground district this November.

«Advancing someone who is so close on this issue to Mike Lawler would be a genuine mistake when this is something that the overwhelming majorities of the Democratic party’s base are demanding a separation from,» Phillips-Staley told Piker, referring to Israel.

Just 13% of Democrats hold a positive view of Israel compared to 57% who view the country negatively, according to a March NBC News survey. Among independents, just over 20% see Israel in a positive light.

It’s unclear if Phillips-Staley’s approach will work in the southern Hudson Valley seat, which is one of the most heavily Jewish districts in the country.

«I’ve taken a very … what I hope that people perceive to be an authentic and progressive human rights-focused platform and we’re going to test it here too,» Phillips-Staley told the Breaking Points podcast.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol Hill Club on July 15, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

Lawler successfully fended off a challenge from Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., in 2024. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates his reelection contest as a «toss-up.»

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Divisions over Israel are not the only area where Lawler and Phillips-Staley have clashed.

Lawler’s campaign filed a lawsuit on Tuesday alleging the Phillips-Staley campaign forged voter signatures on petitions to be eligible for the Empire State’s June primary. The campaign submitted dozens of sworn affidavits from voters in the district who alleged they never put their names on petitions submitted by the Phillips-Staley campaign.