Sure. Starved. Wounded. Tortured. These are the situations that some hostages being held in Gaza nonetheless face, in response to info their households stated they’d obtained from Israeli army and safety officers after Hamas launched three captives on Saturday as a part of a cease-fire settlement.
The emaciated look of three hostages launched in a ceremony in Gaza staged by Hamas final weekend — Eli Sharabi, 52; Or Levy, 34; and Ohad Ben-Ami, 56 — and the main points of their captivity have kinfolk of the remaining captives sounding the alarm concerning the pressing want for the continuation of the phased cease-fire deal. The urgency comes because the militant group stated on Monday it will indefinitely postpone the following hostage releases, set for Saturday, citing Israeli cease-fire violations.
Earlier than they have been handed over to Purple Cross officers in change for 183 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, the frail, painfully skinny hostages have been paraded onstage earlier than a crowd within the metropolis of Deir al-Balah, Gaza, every holding a Hamas-issued “launch certificates,” and made to recite phrases written for them — together with because of the militants who had held them for 16 months.
A physician in command of overseeing the therapy of two of the freed Israeli hostages later stated they have been in poor condition. The third was in a “extreme dietary state,” according to an official on the hospital the place he was being handled.
Hamas has stated it treats its captives benevolently.
Below the primary phases of the cease-fire deal, the armed Palestinian group agreed to free 25 residing hostages and the our bodies of eight who have been killed, in change for about 1,500 Palestinian prisoners. Up to now, about half of these exchanges have been carried out.
Hamas on Saturday denounced “the brutal therapy of our prisoners” by Israeli officers. “This consists of ongoing assaults, torture, and disrespect for age or the extreme well being situations suffered by many prisoners,” it stated in an announcement, highlighting what it stated was the distinction in therapy between the hostages and the prisoners.
Idit Ohel, whose son Alon Ohel turned 24 on Monday and was spending his second birthday in captivity in Gaza, instructed reporters at a information briefing that she had realized from army sources who had spoken with essentially the most just lately launched hostages that her son was receiving little or no meals and no medical look after a number of accidents, together with a watch damage that has left him partially blinded.
Mr. Ohel, who was captured on the Nova Music Competition throughout the Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7, 2023, has been held sure for a lot of the time and was tortured, she stated she had realized from Israeli army officers. “It was not straightforward to listen to,” Ms. Ohel stated. “I have to say that I even fainted.”
“I don’t assume there’s a mom on this world that might even be capable to sleep,” understanding their baby was enduring such struggling, she added.
Equally, Sigi Cohen, the mom of one other hostage, Eliya Cohen, who was 26 when captured, stated by telephone on Monday that she had realized from Israeli safety forces that her son — who was shot within the leg throughout the 2023 assault on Israel — has additionally not obtained therapy for his accidents.
Her son reportedly sees nearly no sunshine and has been sure all through most of his practically 500 days in captivity, she added.
The New York Occasions couldn’t independently verify the data. A spokesman for the Israeli army, reached by telephone, declined to touch upon Monday, citing the sensitivity of the subject.
The just lately freed hostages’ experiences about what they and others have endured align with the accounts of among the different captives freed for the reason that first section of the cease-fire settlement went into impact final month.
And Dr. Hagai Levine, who leads the medical workforce for the Hostage Household Discussion board, an umbrella group, instructed reporters on Monday that the hostages had been “starved” and endured “intentional torture,” and that many had returned residence with infections that would turn into a menace, in addition to emotional injury.
“The findings are clear and deeply alarming,” he stated. “They’re topic to deliberate hunger and extreme water deprivation” and “are present process excessive bodily and emotional abuse.”
“There’s a clear and current hazard to all the hostages’ lives,” Dr. Levine added. He stated that any delay within the launch of hostages would “most likely price lives.”
The kinfolk of a few of these just lately launched have additionally described particulars of the hostages’ experiences — and the dire state they’re in now.
“Yesterday, my brother Or returned to us after 491 days of hell,” Michael Levy stated in an announcement on Sunday. His brother had been held in Hamas tunnels and returned to Israel a shadow of the person he as soon as was, his brother stated.
“I hugged him, however he wasn’t the identical Or who left residence on October seventh,” Mr. Levy stated, noting that his brother had returned in poor bodily situation and spent 16 months “hungry, barefoot and in fixed worry” that daily may very well be his final.
However the “hardest blow” got here on Saturday, he stated, when his brother realized that his spouse, Einav Levy, had not survived the assault on the Nova music competition.
The newest particulars concerning the situations beneath which among the hostages have been held got here as the delicate truce gave the impression to be fraying.
Ofer Calderon, who was launched earlier this month, stated in an announcement on Monday, “I used to be held in tunnels with out seeing daylight, had no entry to media, skilled extreme starvation situations, went total months with out showering or receiving correct care.”
He known as for a continuation of the cease-fire and famous that after the primary short-term deal of the struggle was struck between Israel and Hamas, in November 2023, the situations throughout his and different hostages’ captivity had “severely deteriorated and have become brutal.”
“We should not cease the present deal and should proceed working to free all of the hostages,” Mr. Calderon stated. “Hamas is a merciless enemy who is not going to hesitate to hurt the hostages left behind.”
