'Women on the floor, riddled with bullets': Ex-hostage Rom Braslavski recounts 'horrors' of Oct. 7
'Women on the floor, riddled with bullets': Ex-hostage Rom Braslavski recounts 'horrors' of Oct. 7

Speaking in Rome at a conference for PM Giorgia Meloni's party, former hostage Rom Braslavski described the “horror” he witnessed on October 7 and the torture he endured in Gaza captivity.

Former hostage Rom Braslavski recounted the "horrors" of seeing murdered Israelis during the October 7 massacre at a speech to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party's conference on Sunday.

"They were murdered and slaughtered simply for being Israelis, Jews," he said.

Braslavski was introduced by Jewish-Italian Senator Ester Mieli, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, and was interviewed by Maurizio Molinari at Castel Sant'Angelo in central Rome, hundreds of meters from Vatican City.

Braslavski recounted seeing "beautiful women lying on the floor, riddled with bullets. Their clothes were torn and blood was everywhere," describing the "horrors he saw with his own eyes."

"I saw a pile of bodies inside a large yellow trash can. Men, women, small children, covered in blood," he added.

Former hostage Rom Braslavski speaks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, following his release from Hamas captivity, November 8, 2025. (credit: LIOR ROTSTEIN)
Former hostage Rom Braslavski speaks at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, following his release from Hamas captivity, November 8, 2025. (credit: LIOR ROTSTEIN)

Braslavski recounts Palestinian Islamic Jihad torture during captivity

Braslavski also described how Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists tortured him during his captivity in the Gaza terror tunnels.

"The terrorists tortured me daily. They tortured me mentally and physically the entire time," he said.

He also noted that other former hostages remain unable to function since they returned from terror captivity.

"I know hostages who have returned and cannot communicate, who have gone crazy. This captivity is a captivity that is not fit for animals, and certainly not for humans," he said.

Braslavski, wearing a yellow hostage pin, discussed its meaning with the conference attendees.

"This pin represents our pain," he said. "It's terrible to me that not everyone in the world knows what it symbolizes."

Before October 7, Braslavski was working as a security guard, but his "life was ruined," he recounted.

"I ask you, dear people, to continue the good work for justice and peace. Something I would have believed in before October 7," he told the crowd.

"I was inside Gaza, 40 meters underground, until two months ago. I had torn clothes, did not shower for a month, and did not eat for days at a time," he shared.

"And today, look at the suit I'm wearing. The wheel has turned - and only by the grace of God's miracles," he said, thanking Meloni for inviting him.

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