JERUSALEM: Israel gave a grim account Monday of seven freed hostages’ health, saying that despite a “show” by Hamas to present them as healthy and smiling, they faced a long recovery from their ordeal.
The seven women freed so far under Israel’s ceasefire deal with the Palestinian militant group were all malnourished, exposed to psychological suffering and wounded in various ways, said the deputy chief of the Israeli army’s medical corps, Col. Avi Benov.
Images of four Israeli soldiers — aged 19 and 20 — released in Gaza on Saturday by Hamas showed them looking healthy and smiling. They greeted people around them and clutched parting gifts in paper bags as they were handed over to the Red Cross.
But Benov said there was more to the story.
“They were given more food in the days before (their release), they were allowed to shower, they were given (new) clothes,” he said in a video call open to the media.
“This is part of the show organized by Hamas.”
Since the deal took effect on January 19, the militants have freed a total of seven Israeli hostages in exchange for 290 prisoners, all Palestinians except for one Jordanian.
But despite the hostages’ joy and relief at being reunited with their families, it “will take time” for them to recover, said Benov.
Hospitalized after their release, the women have been diagnosed with physical health problems including malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies and a metabolic system “in bad shape,” he said.
Some of the hostages had been held for the past eight months in tunnels, Benov said.
“For them it’s more complicated because light, sun and to be able to talk with someone are essential elements to be physically and mentally healthy,” he said, without naming them or giving further details.
All the hostages were “wounded one way or the other” when they were captured on October 7, 2023 in the Hamas attack that ignited the ensuing war, Benov said.
Their wounds were poorly treated in captivity, or not at all, he added.
Hostages who were freed during a previous truce in November 2023 have said some wounded captives were operated on with no anaesthesia.
But the most “complicated” wounds are psychological, said Benov.
“Even if they look happy, a fear remains. It’s hard for them to believe that this time around they’re in good hands, that it’s not another show organized by Hamas,” he said.
Benov declined to answer a question on whether the hostages had been victims of physical abuse, torture or sexual violence, saying it was important to “protect their privacy.”
“They will tell what they went through, if they want to, in a few weeks or a few months,” he said.
An Israeli health ministry report sent in December to the United Nations special rapporteur on torture said the hostages released in November 2023 had suffered various forms of physical and psychological violence.
It said freed hostages had reported being branded with hot irons, beaten, sexually assaulted, held in isolation and deprived of food.
Numerous ex-hostages showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and survivor’s guilt, the report said.
Benov said hostages set for release in the coming weeks would likely be in even worse health.
Under the deal, they include captive men over 50 or in poor health.
“We are expecting that the next hostages to be released, who are older, with some of them already ill when they were kidnapped, will come back in worse condition,” he said.
Freed hostages’ smiles deceptive, Israel’s military says
https://arab.news/47cme
Freed hostages’ smiles deceptive, Israel’s military says
Netanyahu ‘sought plan to evade responsibility for Oct. 7 attack
- Critics have repeatedly accused Netanyahu of refusing to accept blame for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history
JERUSALEM: A former close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that immediately following the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered Israel’s two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli leader instructed him to figure out how the premier could evade responsibility for the security breach.
Former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein, who faces trial for allegedly leaking classified information to the press, made the explosive accusation during an extensive interview with Israel’s Kan news channel Monday night.
FASTFACT
Feldstein said Netanyahu looked ‘panicked’ when he made the request. He was later told to omit the word ‘responsibility’ from all statements.
Critics have repeatedly accused Netanyahu of refusing to accept blame for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. But little is known about Netanyahu’s behavior in the days immediately following the attack, while the premier has consistently resisted an independent state inquiry.
Speaking to Kan, Feldstein said “the first task” he received from Netanyahu after Oct. 7, 2023, was to stifle calls for accountability.
“He asked me, ‘What are they talking about in the news? Are they still talking about responsibility?’” Feldstein said. “He wanted me to think of something that could be said that would offset the media storm surrounding the question of whether the prime minister had taken responsibility or not.”
He added that Netanyahu looked “panicked” when he made the request. Feldstein said he was later told by people in Netanyahu’s close circle to omit the word “responsibility” from all statements.
Netanyahu’s office called the interview a “long series of mendacious and recycled allegations made by a man with clear personal interests who is trying to deflect responsibility from himself,” Hebrew media reported.
