‘They will not give up until the last Israeli is gone’

Former hostage Eitan Mor shares shocking insight into Hamas’ military preparation, revealing his deep knowledge of Israel and his unwavering commitment to future attacks.

Former hostage Eitan Mor said he was “astonished” by the amount of intelligence he had about Israel during his captivity, adding that the terror group had focused on rebuilding and preparing for new attacks.

Mor’s remarks came as right-wing ministers and lawmakers called for a complete takeover of the Gaza Strip at a Knesset conference on Monday titled Gaza the Day After: The Political Plan of the Israeli Right.

“People underestimate how organized they are,” Mor said of Hamas. “Changes. Rotations of guards. Thousands of wells. Even under siege, they have a year’s supply of food. The only real weakness is water.”

Water resources are running out in the tunnels, he noted.

“They won’t give up. Many of them told me, ‘Until the last Israeli is expelled from here, we will continue kidnapping.’ Jihad is the highest commandment of their religion. They are obsessed with us; that’s their life’s purpose,” Mor said.

Hamas maintains strict discipline

Hamas maintained strict discipline while holding hostages, he continued. “Their security discipline shocked me. When moving hostages, there is always a security briefing. A terrorist, now dead, said: ‘The first mistake is the last mistake.'”

“They have brochures about the military and the tools we have. Everything down to the last detail.”

Mor was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival when Hamas invaded the territory on October 7. He was held captive for two years and released under the latest US-brokered ceasefire deal in October 2025.

“On October 7, I saw the atrocities. I knew they were huge, but I didn’t understand the scale of them,” Mor said, speaking of the beginning of his captivity.

The Hamas terrorists gave him a radio and turned on the broadcasts so he could translate them into English.

“I heard on the radio that over a thousand people had been murdered and hundreds injured. They started calling out names, friends, people I worked with. I turned off the radio. I wanted to know, but I couldn’t hear it.”

Mor said he also learned to speak Arabic during his captivity. In the tunnels, he could also hear military activity above him.

“What helped me was something simple: praying for the morning to come. I didn’t want the night anymore. There were many moments where you were just clinging to a blanket, trying to get through all the noise around you,” he said.

Although Israel reached a ceasefire agreement with Hamas in October 2025, the agreement is still in its first stage, as the remains of the slain Israeli hostage, St.-Sgt.-Maj. Ran Givili has not yet been fired by the terrorist group.

The Knesset conference included panels on Israel’s next steps after more than two years of war. Justice Minister Yariv Levin said: “We will not give up until we complete the mission of bringing Ran Givili home. »

He called on Israel to take control of Gaza, saying: “The whole approach by which we hand over control of our lands to terrorist organizations and buy tranquility is wrong and destructive.”

“We must be in Gaza and throughout the Land of Israel because it is our land – not just for security reasons,” he added.

The conference was initiated by MP Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party), who said: “The political perspective of the right must take the next step – not just containment, but go all the way.”