"The Kidnappers Showed Me as a Prize": The Interview with the Hostage Wins an Emmy

The American news program "60 Minutes" has won a News and Documentary Emmy for the interview conducted by journalist Lesley Stahl with Yarden Roman-Gat, who was kidnapped to the Gaza Strip during Simchat Torah and released as part of an exchange last November. During the ceremony, Shachar Bar-On, an Israeli-American journalist serving as Stahl's producer, accepted the award and said: "Thank you to Yarden Roman-Gat who trusted us, and to her husband Alon who also had faith in us. We hope for a ceasefire that will return the remaining hostages."

Roman-Gat was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be'eri along with her sister-in-law Carmel Gat, who was murdered in Hamas captivity and whose body was recently returned to Israel. For 54 days, she believed that her husband Alon and daughter Gefen were also kidnapped, but discovered through an Israeli radio broadcast that they had been saved from the captors. "I heard Alon's cousin speaking about me and Carmel, but he didn't mention Alon and Gefen. That's when I realized they were okay," she shared in an interview with "60 Minutes".

Yarden shared the terrifying moments of being dragged into captivity and being held as a prize by the kidnappers: "The kidnappers showed me as a prize. They didn't put me in a tunnel, but held me above ground, in a house in the strip, under constant supervision." She emphasized the fears she experienced during her captivity but refrained from detailing additional personal details she encountered. "They wanted to keep me safe, and I think that helped me survive," she concluded.