Released hostage: 'There was a picture of Gilad Schalit in my room'

• Published date: 16 April 2024
• Author: JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Gideon Babdila, who was Norlin's partner, was kidnapped alongside her on October 7 and was killed in captivity. She thought he was still alive and would "pray and talk to him" while she was in Gaza

Speaking about the day she was kidnapped, she expressed the great fear and panic that overwhelmed her. "There were five armed terrorists. They pointed their weapons at me, and I told them please, not me.

"Please, not me."

I showed them my cross and told them I was Filipino. I begged them again [not to kidnap me]. They took me in a car where I was alone with the bodies of multiple murdered Israelis in the trunk."

Babdila claimed that in the "small room [within the Gaza Strip] where [I was held], there was a picture of Gilad Schalit."

"Every day was like hell."

When she arrived in Gaza, three terrorists led her to a house, where she stayed in a small room with freed hostages Irena Tati and Karina Engelberg.

Norlin Babdila is in the top row, third picture. (L-R)

"Every day was like hell. The first day, there was electricity and a fan, but after that, there was nothing. We were hot, and [every day] there was less water and food. When we asked to shower, they put a small bucked for the three of us. What was left for us?

Even when we went to the bathroom, we didn't...