Israeli hostage “abuse accounts raise alarms for remaining prisoners

bound. I was hungry. Injured. torture. These are still facing hostages held in Gaza, according to information the family said they received from Israeli military and security authorities after Hamas released three prisoners of war on Saturday as part of the ceasefire agreement. This is the condition that

The debilitating appearance of three hostages released last weekend at a ceremony in Gaza in Hamas – Eli Sharabi, 52. Or taxation, 34; and Ohad Ben Ami, 56 – and their prisoners' details are relatives of the remaining prisoners who are warning about the urgent need for a gradual ceasefire contract to continue. . As extremist groups said on Monday that they would postpone the next hostage release set for Saturday indefinitely, citing Israel's ceasefire violation.

Frail, painful, thin hostages paraded on the stage in front of a crowd in Dale Al Bala, Gaza, before being handed over to Red Cross officials in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday. ” and was made to recite words written for them.

The doctor in charge who oversees treatment of the two released Israeli hostages later said they were in poor condition. According to staff at the hospital where he was being treated, the third was “severe nutritional status.”

Hamas says he treats prisoners with mercy.

In the first phase of the ceasefire deal, an armed Palestinian group agreed to release 25 living hostages and eight murdered bodies in exchange for around 1,500 Palestinian prisoners . So far, about half of these exchanges have been performed.

Hamas on Saturday denounced Israeli officials of “brutal treatment of our prisoners.” “This includes ongoing attack, torture and neglect on the age and severe health conditions that many inmates suffered,” he said in a statement, saying it was the difference between hostages and prisoners' treatment. I emphasized it.

Iddit Owell, who turned 24 on Monday and was taken prisoner in Gaza and spent his second birthday, news of what he learned from military sources who spoke to recently released hostages. He told reporters at the briefing that he had little food and no medical care for multiple injuries, including partially blinded eye injuries.

O'Haru, who was arrested at the Nova Music Festival for Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, said she learned from Israeli military officials that she was often detained and tortured. “It wasn't easy to hear,” Ohel said. “I have to say I've passed out too.”

“I don't think there are mothers in this world who can even sleep,” she added, knowing that children endure such suffering.

Similarly, Sigi Cohen, mother of another hostage mother, Elijah Cohen, was 26 when she was captured, but on Monday she called on Israeli security forces over the phone, 2023 attacks on Israeli in 2023. He said he found out about his son who was shot in the leg while on – he hasn't been treated for his injuries either.

Her son reportedly has little sunlight and is tied up in captivity for nearly 500 days, she added.

The New York Times could not independently confirm the information. An Israeli military spokesman, who reached by phone, declined to comment Monday, citing the topic's sensitivity.

Reports of recently released hostages report that they and others are consistent with accounts of other prisoners of war that have been released since the first phase of the ceasefire agreement came into effect last month.

And Dr. Haggai Levine, an umbrella group that leads the medical team at the Hostage Family Forum, told reporters Monday that hostages endure “starving” and “deliberate torture,” and many others have said. He said he went home due to an infection. It's not only emotional damage, but also threatening.

“The findings are clear and deeply surprised,” he said. “They are subject to intentional starvation and serious water deprivation,” and “we are subjected to extreme physical and emotional abuse.”

“There is a clear and current danger in the lives of all hostages,” added Dr. Levine. He said delays in hostage release “may be life-threatening.”

Relatives of recently released people also explain the hostage experiences and the miserable situation they are currently in.

“Yesterday, I returned to us after my brother or 491 days of hell,” Michael Levy said in a statement Sunday. His brother was held in the Hamas Tunnel, and his brother said he once reverted the shadow of the former man back to Israel.

“I hugged him, but he wasn't the same, or I left the house on October 7th,” Levy said. Every day could be his last.

But the “hardest blow” came on Saturday, he said when his brother learned that his wife, Ainav Levi, had not survived the attack at the Nova Music Festival.

The latest details on the conditions under which some of the hostages were held came when the vulnerable ceasefire appears to be fraying.

“I was detained in a tunnel without seeing sunlight, but I have no access to the media, have experienced serious hunger, showers, and appropriately, Offer Calderon, who was released earlier this month, said in a statement Monday. I went there for several months without receiving any kind of care.”

He called for a ceasefire to continue, and after the first temporary trade of the war was struck between Israel and Hamas in November 2023, conditions in captivity of him and other hostages “acutely worsened; It was brutal,” he pointed out.

“We must not stop the current deal, we must continue to work to free all hostages,” Calderon said. “Hamas is a cruel enemy and does not hesitate to harm the hostages left behind.”