Released Oct. 7 hostage reflects on traumatic kidnapping and finding her voice

Geoff Bennett:

One year on from the Hamas attacks of last October 7, the war, pain, anguish, and heartbreak continue on a daily basis. And the persistent memories of that day are no more acute than for those who survived both the attack and the subsequent kidnapping into Gaza.

Sapir Cohen was on Kibbutz Nir Oz that day and held for nearly two months by Hamas.

Nick Schifrin met with her recently, a woman transformed by appalling cruelty, but who is now finding her own voice.

Nick Schifrin:

On the morning of October the 7th, a tide of terror rolled into Kibbutz Nir Oz. They broadcast, kidnapped and, killed residents and entered this home, where Sapir Cohen and her boyfriend, Sasha Trupanov, were hiding in a bedroom. Cohen accepted her fate.

Sapir Cohen, Former Hamas Hostage:

I didn't send the message to my parents. I didn't want to say something with the meaning of goodbye. So, I decided just to say my prayer. And I'm saying that again and again and again and again. And, finally, I felt something deep inside of me. I felt peace.

Nick Schifrin:

As she was taken, she felt overwhelming terror and profound regret.

Sapir Cohen:

God, please, it can't be. It can't be. I never did something. I never did something meaningful in my life. And that was my last wish. Just keep me alive and give me the chance to do something.

Nick Schifrin:

But, first, she faced more terror. As she arrived in Gaza, a mob was waiting. That's her in blue.

Sapir Cohen:

I saw thousands, thousands of people in the streets. Like, all the people, came outside and they all encouraged the terrorists, and they are come to touch me and to beat me, and they beat me strong. So I need to put the head — the hands on my hand. And I say: "God, please save me. I don't want to die here."

Nick Schifrin:

Like other hostages, she was held for some time above ground in multiple houses. And then, as Israel intensified its campaign, Hamas moved her underground into its network of tunnels.

Sapir Cohen:

The smell, like garbage in the tunnels.

(through translator):

There was a lot of moisture and mold and a lot of lice and bed bugs. All day, you're scratching your hands and your head. And, also, the mattress was full of mold. It was hard to sleep because of the stench.

Nick Schifrin:

One day in the tunnels she met the October 7 mastermind and master of her fate, Yahya Sinwar.

Sapir Cohen:

He thought that I'm under 18 and he say, OK, so, "Tomorrow, we will — you will release with her." And then the other hostages say, no, no, she's old. She 30. And he say: "OK, so you stay."

Just when I came back, I saw this face on the TV, and I'm saying, I know this ugly man.

Nick Schifrin:

Did you worry that they would hurt you?

Sapir Cohen:

Yes, of course.

Nick Schifrin:

Were you worried about being abused sexually?

Sapir Cohen:

Yes. I was worried, especially in the first place that I was, because we were with two young people, two young terrorists that watch us. And in some days, they came and put their heads on our mattress.

And when the owner of this house, an old man, came, they just go.

Nick Schifrin:

And that's when she found a strength she didn't know she had and created light for her fellow hostages when everything felt dark.

Sapir Cohen:

I saw something that I called it miracle. They like to go and to — like to — scared us, to say many things about Israel, that they took all the land and that nobody want us.

But when they saw that we are a very strong group, and they came to say the same things, but it doesn't work anymore, they just sit in the side. And then I realized what it mean to be united, like, how much you can be strong when you are united.

I just say to myself that my last wish was to do something with meaning. And God gave me the chance.

Nick Schifrin:

And so the formerly shy 30-year-old found her voice…

Sapir Cohen:

We need to do everything, but everything, to bring them home now.

Nick Schifrin:

… and now speaks to audiences of thousands with a message of unity.

Sapir Cohen:

The terrorists say, when all the Jewish are together like this, they are very, very strong.

Nick Schifrin:

She knows, while Israel is united in grief, it's divided politically. And yet, when she speaks, all Israelis listen.

Sapir Cohen:

So when I came back, I asked myself the same question like in Gaza, why God send me back? And I decided that I have to tell my story.

Nick Schifrin:

That, even in darkness, there can be light.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Nick Schifrin in Ramat Gan, Israel.