Israeli hostages recovered from captivity in Gaza have largely kept out of the public eye, but accounts slowly reaching the press from their family members point to widespread abuse and torture by Hamas.
Hostages report having been beaten, threatened with death, underfed, kept in cages and denied medical care.
Elma Avraham, 84, who had health issues, was taken hostage from Kibbutz Nahal Oz on Oct. 7, the day of the Hamas attack. Although in generally good health when captured, she deteriorated in captivity.
Released on Nov. 26, she had a pulse of 40 and a body temperature of 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
“They held her in terrible conditions,” daughter Tali Amano said. “We stood at the entrance with a package of medications for her. My mother didn’t need to return this way and I have no idea how she will make it through these days.”
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, “She was denied life-saving medications. She was not visited by the Red Cross.”
Ditza Hayman, 84, who was kidnapped by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz was similarly neglected.
“The kidnappers took my mother to the attic of an unfinished building inside Gaza. She was hidden there completely alone, without other hostages and was trapped inside the building,” her son, Gideon, told Channel 12.
“In the cold, without running water, electricity and with very little food. I will not go into detail about the hygiene that was there. Think about the worst possible—and then worse than that,” he said.
“Once or twice a day one of the kidnappers came to her, served her food and left. During all these days she did not receive any medical treatment, nor could she ask for it, because the kidnappers did not speak Hebrew or English,” he added.
Female hostages were kept in cages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group set up in the wake of the attack, revealed on Monday.
Children were branded in case they escaped, according to Yaniv Yaakov, the uncle of the brothers Or, 16, and Yagil, 12, who were freed on Nov. 27.
“Every child that Hamas took was taken on a motorcycle, and they took each child and put their leg in front of the exhaust pipe, which caused a burn to mark the children so that in case they ran away or fled, they could find them,” he said.
A Thai hostage who was released told Israel’s Channel 12 that the Jewish captives were beaten with electric cables. Israeli hostages were treated worse than the others, he said.
(full article online)
Israeli hostages recount beatings, death threats in captivity.
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