Limit. Hungry. Wound. Tortured. These are the conditions that some hostages kept in Gaza have yet to face, according to the information that their families have declared that they received from the Israeli military and security officials after Hamas released three prisoners on Saturday as part of an agreement of ceased on fire.
The hematic aspect of three hostages released in a ceremony in Gaza organized by Hamas last weekend – Eli Sharabi, 52 years old; O Levy, 34; And Ohad Ben-me, 56 years-and the details of their captivity have relatives of remaining prisoners who play the alarm for the urgent need for the continuation of the agreement of ceased the fire. The urgency arrives while the militant group said on Monday that the next exits of hostages would indefinitely postpone, set for Saturday, citing the violations of ceased the Israeli ceased.
Before they were delivered to the official Red Cross officials in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, the fragile and painfully thin hostages were paraded on stage in front of a crowd in the city of Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, each with a release certificate issued by Hamas “, and made to recite the words written for them, included thanks to the militants who had held them for 16 months.
A doctor in charge of supervising the treatment of two of the Israeli hostages liberated later said he was in poor condition. The third was in a “serious nutritional state”, according to a hospital official where he was treated.
Hamas said he treats his prisoners benevolence.
As part of the early stages of the ceasefire agreement, the Palestinian group armed has agreed to free 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight who were killed, in exchange for about 1,500 Palestinian prisoners. So far, about half of those exchanges have been performed.
On Saturday Hamas denounced “the brutal treatment of our prisoners” by Israeli officials. “This includes ongoing attacks, torture and contempt for age or serious health conditions suffered by many prisoners,” he said in a declaration, highlighting what he said was the difference in the treatment between hostages and prisoners.
Idit Ohel, whose son Alon Ohel turned 24 years old on Monday and spent his second birthday in captivity in Gaza, told journalists in a briefing of news he had learned from military sources who had spoken with the most recently released hostages that His son was receiving very little food and no medical care for multiple injuries, including an eye injury that left him partially blinded.
Mr. Ohel, who was captured at the Nova Music Festival during the attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, was kept direct for most of the time and was tortured, said he had learned from Israeli military officials. “It wasn’t easy to hear,” said Mrs. Ohel. “I must say that I am even passed out.”
“I don’t think there is a mother in this world that would even be able to sleep”, knowing that their child was enduring this suffering, he added.
Similarly, Sigi Cohen, the mother of another hostage, Eliya Cohen, who was 26 years old when he captured, said on the phone on Monday he learned from the Israeli security forces that his son – who was hit in the leg during the Attack of 2023 against Israel – he also received no care for his injuries.
According to reports, his son almost does not see any sun and has been tied for most of his almost 500 days in captivity, he added.
The New York Times was unable to confirm the information independently. A spokesman for the Israeli army, reached by phone, refused to comment on Monday, citing the sensitivity of the topic.
The reports of the hostages recently freed on what they and others have endured in line with the accounts of some of the other prisoners freed from the first phase of the ceased agreement last month.
And Dr. Hagai Levine, Who Leads the Medical Team for the Hostage Family Forum, an Umbrella Group, Told Reporters On Monday That the Hostages Had Been “Starved” and endred “Interactional torture,” and that many Had Returned Home With Infections that Could It becomes a threat and emotional damage.
“The results are clear and deeply alarming,” he said. “They are subject to deliberate hunger and serious water deprivation” and “are suffering an extreme physical and emotional abuse”.
“There is a clear and present danger for all the lives of the hostages,” added Dr. Levine. He said that any delay in the release of hostages “would probably cost a life”.
The relatives of some of these recently released have also described the details of the experiences of the hostages and the terrible state in which they are now.
“Yesterday, my brother or he returned to us after 491 days of hell,” said Michael Levy in a Sunday statement. His brother had been held in the Hamas tunnels and returned to Israel a shadow of the man who was once, said his brother.
“I embraced him, but it was not the same or that he left the house on October 7,” Levy said, observing that his brother had returned to bad physical conditions and spent 16 months “hungry, barefoot and constant fear”. Every day it could be his last.
But the “most difficult blow” came on Saturday, he said, when his brother learned that his wife, Einav Levy, had not survived the attack at the Nova Music Festival.
The last details on the conditions in which some hostages were held came while the fragile truce seemed to be frayed.
Ofer Calderon, who was released at the beginning of this month, said in a statement on Monday: “I was kept in tunnel without seeing the daylight, I had no access to the media, it was serious conditions of hunger, it went whole without take a shower or receive adequate care “.
He asked for a continuation of the fire and noticed that after the first temporary agreement of the war was hit between Israel and Hamas, in November 2023, the conditions during his and other hostages had “seriously deteriorated and became brutal”.
“We must not stop the current agreement and have to continue working to free all the hostages,” said Calderon. “Hamas is a cruel enemy who will not hesitate to damage the hostages left behind.”