Regardless of a weekslong bombing effort by the Israeli navy, which has left 1000’s useless, in response to the Hamas-run Gaza Well being Ministry, Ms. Lifshitz described a seemingly well-organized operation, with operatives given particular duties, together with medical doctors, guards and medics.
The militants introduced her to a big underground corridor the place that they had gathered 25 individuals, earlier than 5 from Nir Oz have been separated and positioned in a room on their very own, Ms. Lifschitz mentioned. “We have been intently guarded by their guards and a medic. At a sure level a health care provider additionally arrived and made certain that we obtained our capsules and medicine,” she mentioned.
Ms. Lifshitz mentioned her captors paid particular consideration to well being of the hostages, offering treatment, shampoo and female hygiene merchandise. The hostages have been fed the identical meager provisions their guards ate: a single day by day meal of pita bread, two sorts of cheese and cucumber.
“They have been very attentive to the sanitary side,” she mentioned, “so we don’t get sick on them, God forbid. There was a health care provider close by who would come each two or three days to test in on us. And the medic took the duty to carry us treatment. If they didn’t have the very same treatment, they introduced us the equal.”
In a video documenting Ms. Lifshitz’s handover to the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross, which was filmed and launched by the armed wing of Hamas, Ms. Lifschitz seems to know one Hamas member’s arms and repeat the Hebrew phrase “shalom,” which means goodbye and in addition peace.
Her grandson, Daniel Lifshitz, mentioned in a televised interview that his grandmother would stay within the hospital for now, including that she would “want loads of time to get well from this, although she appears to be like robust.”
Israel has traditionally made the return of captives a nationwide precedence. In 2011, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners — together with Hamas’s present chief in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar — in trade for a single Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.
However the nation has by no means confronted a disaster wherein so many voters have been being held hostage at one time. Hamas has mentioned it’s keen to think about releasing “overseas nationalities below momentary custody, as and when safety circumstances allow.”
Earlier than Tuesday’s launch of Ms. Lifshitz and Ms. Cooper, the group had allowed the discharge of solely two different captives, the twin American-Israeli residents Judith Raanan and her daughter, Natalie. The Raanans, launched on Oct. 20, haven’t spoken publicly about their ordeal.
