At least 220 remain captive in Gaza
Israel and Hamas are reportedly in advanced negotiations through Egypt and Qatar for the terror organisation to release 50 more hostages.
(TIMES OF ISRAEL) – Released Hamas hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, on Tuesday described how her terrorist captors took her by motorcycle from Kibbutz Nir Oz to the Gaza Strip on October 7 and into a “spiderweb” of tunnels, and accused Israel’s leadership of failures that made her and others into “scapegoats”.
She said her abductors beat her on the way to Gaza, but that she was treated well by her captors.
The press conference, with Lifshitz’s extensive and repeated description of the care she and other hostages received in captivity, was quickly criticised by some Israeli PR professionals and commentators as a major Israeli misstep and a propaganda victory for Hamas. Israel’s government was blamed by some for failing to oversee the event, and the hospital was blamed by others for arranging it.
“I went through a hell that we’d never imagined. They [Hamas terrorists] rampaged through the kibbutz,” Lifshitz said, her voice barely a whisper. She derided Israel’s costly border fence with Gaza, which she said the invaders blew up with ease and had been “no help at all” in defending her kibbutz against the terrorist mob.
Some 180 of the kibbutz’s 400 residents were killed or abducted, according to The New York Times.
Hamas released Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper, 79, after 17 days in captivity, the third and fourth captives freed by the terror group. They were released from Gaza into Egypt late Monday, and were then transferred to the IDF, which brought them to Ichilov for examination, where doctors said they were in good health.
At least 220 others – including the husbands of both women, Amiram Cooper, 84, and Oded Lifshitz, 83 – are believed to still be held hostage by Hamas.
“I was taken, with my legs on one side and my head on the other” of the motorcycle, Lifshitz told reporters, and her abductors “flew through the fields” back toward Gaza. En route, the wheelchair-bound woman said, she was beaten with sticks, “not breaking my ribs” but “hurting me badly and making it hard for me to breathe”.
In Gaza, she was brought to the entrance of a tunnel network, which she described as “a spiderweb”, and had to walk through tunnels “on wet ground, with damp all the time”.
Eventually, they reached a large hall where about 25 other hostages were gathered.
She and about four other hostages from Kibbutz Nir Oz were taken two to three hours later that day into a separate room.
“A medic and a doctor came,” and the hostages were put on mattresses, she said. The doctor returned every couple of days, and the medic arranged for medicines. “The treatment of us was good,” Lifshitz added, describing how the medic treated another of the hostages who was injured.
Israel and Hamas are reportedly in advanced negotiations through Egypt and Qatar for the terror organisation to release 50 more hostages.
The talks made progress over the weekend before hitting a snag on Monday, a senior official said, confirming an earlier story in The Wall Street Journal that Hamas began conditioning the release of 50 dual nationals on Israel allowing fuel into Gaza.
Israel has pushed back on the demand, saying it will only allow the entry of fuel if all of the roughly 220 hostages are released, the WSJ report said.
Not all of the hostages are believed to be in Hamas captivity, as Palestinian Islamic Jihad has also claimed to be holding 30 of its own, and unaffiliated Palestinians reportedly participated in the massacre, taking captives in the process as well.
Ohad Munder-Zichri’s ninth birthday was on Monday, but instead of celebrating at home with his family and friends, he is believed to be somewhere in Gaza. The fourth-grader from the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba was abducted along with his mother and grandparents while visiting his grandparents in Nir Oz. Ohad’s beloved uncle was killed in the attack.
It’s that uncertainty that has been most agonising for Ohad’s grief-stricken father, Avi Zichri.
“I keep imagining what he is going through. He’s a sensitive boy. Did he see dead bodies? He wears glasses. Did they take them from him? Can he see anything?” Zichri said.
Meanwhile, a petition signed by 86 Nobel peace laureates has demanded Hamas release all children taken hostage, saying holding them in captivity “constitutes a war crime, a grievous offence against humanity itself”.
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