Stories about ceasefire deals and hostage releases are dominating the news agenda, as Israel and Hamas finalise an agreement to see some of the dozens of captives held since 7 October freed.

Up to 50 women and children look likely to leave Gaza over the coming days. Yet almost nothing has been said about the fate of scores of men, many of whom would have served with the Israel Defence Forces, the sworn enemy of Hamas.

Their families know nothing about how they are being treated, or if they are being subjected to abuse or torture. At the very least, they will be suffering psychologically, in the knowledge that previous Israeli captives taken by Hamas were held for years on end.

Theo Padnos is an American journalist who spent 22 months as a hostage after being kidnapped by Islamist extremists before being passed to a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Syria in 2012.

To give an insight into what it's like to be detained by an armed group, and the mental toll of life in captivity, he told 'Upfront: The Podcast what he went through during his time as a hostage.

"These people are undergoing horrific experiences. And if they emerge without emotional scars for the rest of their lives, with their lives intact, I'm not sure that their psychology will be intact," Mr Padnos told host Katie Hannon.

"I wasn't allowed to speak. I had my handcuffs behind my back. I was blindfolded. I had to lie in a corner. If I moved, then I had punishment."

"I felt that they were in the process of killing me over a period of days. My psychological experience of this - I didn't think I was going to survive."

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Mr Padnos, an Arabic speaker, was a freelance reporter seeking to cover the Syrian civil war when he was captured.

During his time in captivity, he was shuffled between tiny cells and dark rooms with different prison guards, while being regularly tortured and interrogated by senior members of a group affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

"In my case, they were just so violent with me that I assumed that their process was to subject me to a certain degree of punishment over a period of time and then when the emir - or whatever sheikh was in charge of my destiny - he was going to say, 'this person, we've punished him enough and now let's just kill him."

While Hamas and Al-Qaeda are both Sunni Islamist armed groups, there are key and significant differences between them. Hamas is an armed group with religious but also political and nationalistic objectives. It has participated in elections, and seeks the creation of a Palestinian state within the borders of modern Israel.

It is not known whether captives currently held by Hamas are being subjected to physical torture. One of the two elderly female hostages released since 7 October said she had been beaten when she was abducted and taken to Gaza, but was then treated well during her two-week captivity in the enclave.

Men with a military background may or may not be receiving the same treatment. Regardless, the psychological stress of captivity will be unavoidable, says Mr Padnos.

He says over time he was allowed to communicate with his captors. To gain their trust and protect himself psychologically, he says he developed a 'second self.'

"A terrorist organisation is a cult, and I developed a cult personality, a cult self, a second self, that could easily get along with the people in the cult."

"And I accepted my second self, just as they do. We've got to kill the Jews, when they said that I would say we've got to." Mr Padnos explained.

"[When they said] we've got to show the world that we're not really terrorists. We're actually freedom fighters. When you go home, you will do this? I told them, of course."

"And then as soon as I left, I retrieved my first self: Theo."

To the surprise of many at the time, Mr Padnos was released in 2014, one week after another American journalist who was abducted in Syria, James Foley, was beheaded by Islamic State.

Qatari diplomats brokered Mr Padnoss release with his captors, after being directly contacted by his family.

The United States unequivocally denied paying any ransom money to secure his freedom.

He was released to United Nations officials in the Golan Heights, the disputed territory between Syria and Israel.

It was initially difficult to mentally readjust to life outside captivity, he says.

"For the first 24 hours, it was not real. I kept thinking that I was going to wake up and go back. And oftentimes I did, when I was sleeping. In the first days after my release, I woke up and I was like, okay, I'm back in prison. And the whole freedom thing was a dream."

"Every person I saw on the street, I'm like, he's probably a terrorist." he said of the days after his release.

"I was looking at all these Israeli guys like, that guy, he's not a real Israeli. He's an al-Qaeda guy. I didn't trust anybody."

He told Katie Hannon he has been thinking often about what the captives in Gaza have been going through since 7 October. He believes that the only hope of seeing all of them released is a longer-term ceasefire.

"The way to begin those negotiations is to stop the violence. In my view, there's just no incentive for the captors to let their captives go if all they're going to get is a respite of a day or two."

"You know, the thing where they say we're indifferent to death, that's true. They're not kidding about that. That's really true. Like when they're underground and the bombs are coming from above, those people have an insouciant and indifferent attitude towards death, and it's very dangerous for the captives."

"My personal view is that... the hostage-takers, they're going to let the women and children go because [they perceive their] God has told them to... They're not going to let anybody else go, unless they advance their own war aims, which are significant."

Listen to Theo Padnos speaking to Katie Hannon on Upfront: The Podcast here, on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.

Read more:
Life as a hostage: A former captive on the psychological impact - RTE.ie