HOLON, Israel (Reuters) -Released Israeli hostage Bar Kupershtein says he managed to survive two years in a cramped Hamas tunnel in Gaza with no sunlight, little food and regular beatings, by clinging to his belief that he was in God's hands the entire time.

Kupershtein, 23, was released on October 13 along with 19 other hostages in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian convicts and detainees, as part of the Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that has largely halted two years of devastating war.

Kupershtein was a soldier on leave working as an usher at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, when rockets began raining down on the revellers and Hamas militants came storming in from Gaza, ploughing through the site, killing 364 people.

A trained........

© Al Monitor