85-YEAR-OLD FREED HOSTAGE: 'THEY TREATED US VERY NICELY'

The horrors endured by Hamas's hostages: Barely any food, forced to sleep on plastic chairs, waiting to be executed... Israelis reveal the Hell they went through while held captive for seven weeks

With the release of more hostages, a picture is beginning to emerge about the dire conditions in which Hamas's 240 captives have been held in within Gaza

 

By Chris Jewers 

 

Daily Mail

Nov 27, 2023

 

 

After being released, 85-year-old grandmother Yocheved Lipschitz shook hands with one of her  captors and looked him in the eye before saying 'shalom'

 

As groups of Israeli hostages were released from Gaza in recent days, an army of medics, child protection experts and trauma specialists battened down the hatches and shielded them from the media spotlight.

But with a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas now in its final 24 hours, a picture has started to emerge about the dire conditions in which the freed hostages were being held by the terror group over the last seven weeks.

Their relatives have spoken of plastic chairs as beds, irregular meals of bread and rice, and hours spent waiting for the bathroom.

Some of the freed hostages have lost significant weight, and have told their loved ones how they had no sense of time passing in Gaza.

In one 84-year-old woman's case, it is reported that she was not given vital medication while in Gaza, and that she is currently in an 'unstable' condition.

Another elderly woman said she feared she was on her way to be executed in the build up to her release, only to find that she was being freed.

The fullest image yet of life under Hamas captivity was conjured by 85-year-old Yocheved Lipschitz, one of the hostages freed before the current cease-fire.

Upon her release, Lipschitz said she had been held in tunnels which stretched under Gaza 'like a spider web.' But she also said her captors 'told us they are people who believe in the Quran and wouldn't hurt us.'

Lipschitz said captives were treated well and received medical care, including medication. The guards kept conditions clean, she said.

Hostages were given one meal a day of cheese, cucumber and pita, she recalled, adding that her captors ate the same as the hostages.

But unsurprisingly for an 85-year-old woman beaten and dragged away by Israel's most savage enemies, she also admitted: 'I went through hell.' 

When asked at the press conference why she had shaken a Hamas terrorist's hand as she was freed, she replied: 'Because they treated us very nicely.' 

It is not obvious that everyone would agree with that, especially given the brutal beating she suffered. 

But through her daughter, she said that during her 16 days as a prisoner, her captors 'took care of all the women's needs - shampoo, conditioner.'

She described how each prisoner was assigned their own guard, and they would talk and eat with them every day. On top of this, a doctor examined the hostages daily and gave them any necessary medication. 

Speaking for her mother, Sharone Lifschitz (who spells her surname differently), said the terrorists were particularly anxious about cleanliness.

'They were very concerned with hygiene, and were worried about an outbreak of something. We had toilets which they cleaned every day,' she said.

Her description was contrary to what many in Israel had been expecting.