Israeli authorities say dozens of hostages held incommunicado by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for more than a year are uncertain whether they will return starved, traumatized or dead. Preparations are underway to send him back to his home country.
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas will see the release of 33 hostages, the first such large-scale release since a weeklong ceasefire seven weeks into the war. Some families have caught glimpses of their loved ones in hostage videos directed by Hamas. However, it is not entirely clear in what condition the prisoners will be returned.
At Israeli hospitals, health authorities are preparing isolation areas where hostages can begin their recovery in privacy. Israel's Ministry of Health has drafted extensive protocols for their psychological and physical treatment. There is particular concern that they may suffer from severe malnutrition.
Hagar Mizrahi, a senior Israeli health ministry official, said of the hostages released during the 2023 ceasefire: “Those who were released at that time were already poorly nourished.” “Imagine where they are now, another 400 days later. We are very concerned about this.”
Hamas led an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and capturing about 250, before a one-week ceasefire in November of the same year freed about 105 Israeli and foreign hostages. Ta. Several were later released in an Israeli military operation, and Israeli soldiers collected the bodies of dozens of others.
But about 98 hostages remained in Gaza, and Israeli authorities estimate that dozens of them have died.
Many of the women, elderly men and other hostages returned under the first phase of the cease-fire agreement are believed to be held in the militant group's tunnels in the Gaza Strip, with physical and psychological injuries. There is a high possibility that scars will remain.
Mizrahi said health authorities were reviewing all information, including videos of the hostages, to understand their condition. A committee of officials, including Dr. Mizrahi, determined that some had been killed.
Israeli officials say the release procedure will be similar to the previous ceasefire, when 105 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
During the exchange, Hamas fighters handed over the hostages, mostly women and children, to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Red Cross workers transported the prisoners in marked ambulances from Gaza to Egypt and then to Israel.
Their identities were confirmed by Israeli intelligence agents at the border crossing. Around the same time, Israeli security officials released a group of Palestinian women and teenage prisoners.
According to Israeli military officials, the Israeli authorities have set up three reception points along the Gaza border to receive hostages. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with protocol, said these personnel would include Israeli soldiers, as well as doctors and psychologists.
From there, the hostages will be taken to an Israeli hospital where preparations are being made for treatment, officials said.
The 105 hostages released in November 2023 returned home after approximately 50 days of captivity in Gaza. They arrived in a country that had changed radically. For some, it was only then that they learned about their friends and loved ones who had died in the Hamas-led attacks.
Dr. Mizrahi said authorities initially aimed to reintegrate the returned hostages into society as quickly as possible. Health officials are now recommending that any hostages released remain in the hospital for at least four days, if not longer.
In the meantime, the families of the hostages, some of whom survived their captivity, can only wait.
“Last time, we saw the Red Cross transporting hostages, some of whom ran to their relatives and hugged them,” said the group, which works with the human rights group Hostage Families Forum. said clinical psychologist Einat Yehene. “Given the physical and mental conditions we expect, it won't be the same easy thing this time.”
