Released hostage Rom Braslavski  accused the government of ignoring the plight of the released captives who are “truly suffering,” as they deal with prolonged trauma and said the financial assistance provided to them was completely inadequate.

Braslavski’s wrenching Facebook post, published Sunday night, came as other released hostages complained that the Prime Minister’s Office was hijacking a trip to Washington, DC, organized for freed hostages by US President Donald Trump and giving them worse conditions than were offered to them by the Trump administration.

Braslavski was released on October 13 after more than two years in Hamas captivity, along with 19 other surviving hostages. Previous footage of him from when he was held in Gaza showed him in dire condition, and he has described the torture he underwent during his time in captivity, including sexual abuse.

“I am truly suffering, maybe it isn’t visible to the naked eye, but I am suffering indescribable pain, far beyond post-trauma,” he wrote. “I have around 10 panic attacks per day. Panic attacks that include pounding heartbeats, sweating, stuttering, tremors and even screams and violence.”

He added that he suffered a particularly severe panic attack at Ramon Airport on Sunday afternoon after he and his father were detained over excess baggage and were repeatedly questioned by security.

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He did not say where he was flying to, and it was unclear whether he was part of the delegation heading to Washington, DC.


Rom Braslavski on his way back to Israel after two years in captivity in Gaza, October 13, 2025. (Government Press Office)

Braslavski said he has allowed himself to “fall apart” after surviving captivity and returning to Israel, but that he feels ignored by the government, including the Defense Ministry, the police and bodies meant to care for the former hostages.

“All of the government bodies have completely abandoned me, ignore me, and tell me it’s too late,” he wrote. “I have been abandoned, perhaps in every possible aspect, by every possible official. From the moment I returned, I’ve received nothing but derision from the state.”

He said that the total sum he received in government funds after two years as a hostage was NIS 60,000 ($18,600), which he called “simply an embarrassment,” as well as a monthly stipend of NIS 9,000 ($2,790).

The average salary in Israel, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, is NIS 14,800 ($4,595) per month.

Condemning people who criticize the returned hostages and their families for fundraising on their behalf, he praised those who did raise funds and donate to the freed hostages.

“The state isn’t giving enough, the Defense Ministry and state are laughing in our faces,” he wrote. “It’s just because of you — millions have already been raised for all of the hostages.”

He added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have yet to contact him.


Former hostage Rom Braslavski looks at the Tel Aviv skyline from his Tel Hashomer hospital room after his release from captivity on October 13, 2025. (GPO)

“You are my strength, you are what gives me energy and fuel to continue the journey back to life,” he wrote, addressing Israeli citizens. “I promise I won’t let anything break me. I love you, people of Israel.”

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz took to X on Monday, writing that the government had no mercy and that you had to “read Rom Braslavski’s post a few times to believe it.”

“After the hell he went through, he comes home and is once again neglected. This isn’t the state we want to raise kids in, these aren’t the Jewish values we maintained for years,” he wrote.

“We have a government with no shame and no mercy, which for more than half a year has opposed Blue and White’s bill, submitted by MK Pnina Tamano Shata, that would have put an end to this suffering and would have given our hostages who returned home a real chance for rehabilitation,” he added.

Gantz said this was another “low that this government has brought us to as a state and a society,” adding that it was time for reparation.

Hijacked delegation

Braslavski’s complaints came shortly after the hostages accused Netanyahu’s office of making things difficult for them on a trip to be hosted by Trump in a bid to try to control the message they would give the US president.

The trip was organized by Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum for the released hostages to thank the US president in person for his role in securing their release, Channel 12 News reported on Sunday, and did not initially involve the PMO.


US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff (C) speaks as Jared Kushner (L) and his wife Ivanka Trump look on, during a gathering at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. October 11, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

In a long post on X on Sunday night, Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was murdered by Hamas in captivity, wrote that when the PMO heard about the trip, which Trump’s staff had completely organized, including a direct flight for the released hostages and their families on a US Air Force plane, it forcefully took responsibility for the trip.

“In the last few weeks, [the Prime Minister’s Office] has been hijacking the delegation and is harming the conditions of the freed hostages and their families,” Dickmann wrote. “Instead of a direct flight, [they are being given] a connection with a stop in New York and an hours-long bus ride. Instead of a plane just for them that is prepared to take care of the returned hostages, an Arkia flight.”

Arkia is an Israeli low-cost charter flight company.

According to Channel 12, after the plane was changed to an Arkia flight, the released hostages were told they had to limit the family members they could bring with them, some of whom were told they wouldn’t be guaranteed a seat on the plane.

Dickmann added that “all the trips for meetings with Trump and all the meetings with his staff are initiated by the families, definitely not the Israeli government.”

A statement from some of the families to Channel 12 said they felt that the PMO’s involvement in the trip was aimed at allowing it to “oversee what we say and how we behave.”


Gil Dickmann, cousin of slain hostage Carmel Gat, speaks in Hostages Square, August 30, 2025. (Lior Rotstein / Hostages Families Forum)

“We want to say what we feel without a babysitter, and we hope this doesn’t ruin the celebration and closure with the US administration. This wasn’t supposed to be a governmental trip, but a private trip as a group,” the statement said.

Reacting to Dickmann’s post, MK Merav Ben Ari from the opposition Yesh Atid party wrote on X on Monday that “one day, when a state investigatory panel is set up, it will probe how the Israeli government not only abandoned its citizens to be kidnapped on October 7, it will also investigate how it abandoned them when they came back.”

“There’s nothing to say except ‘shame on you,’” she wrote.

The delegation was set to take off for the US on Monday with the meeting scheduled for Thursday, but it was unclear as of Monday morning which flight they would ultimately be taking.