Yocheved Lifshitz, one of two hostages recently freed by Hamas, has described her ordeal after being kidnapped by the Palestinian militant group in the brazen October 7 attack, saying she “went through hell.”
With her daughter kneeling by the side of her wheelchair, the frail 85-year-old grandmother on Tuesday recalled the moment she was abducted by gunmen on motorbikes after militants broke into her home in the kibbutz Nir Oz.
“It was difficult but we will get through this,” Lifshitz told reporters at a news conference at the Tel Aviv hospital where she has been recovering since being freed.
She said they slept on mattresses on the floor of the tunnels, ate the same food as Hamas fighters and received regular treatment from doctors during her incarceration.
“They really took care of the sanitary side of things so that we didn’t get sick,” Lifshitz added.
Each of the five hostages in her group received their own doctor and there was a paramedic present who supervised medication, she said.
“They were very generous to us, very kind. They kept us clean,” Lifshitz said. “They took care of every detail. There are a lot of women and they know about feminine hygiene and they took care of everything there.”
Well, that’s nice of them at least. Treating them like humans while they are hostages
Is that the truth though, or are they saying that out of fear for what might happen to their husbands?
Most terrorist groups will do at least the bare minimum to keep the hostages healthy and sane because it makes it easier to negotiate their release - a corpse is worth less than a living hostage - and to reduce the risk of the hostages fighting back. So it’s probably true.
While that’s likely true as a hostage at that age is fragile and might die on them if they’re too harsh to her or she doesn’t get her meds and as you said a dead hostage won’t be worth anything to them anyway, it’s also true that if anyone of us was in her shoes and had a loved one still in captivity we wouldn’t say a single negative thing about the captors until they release him/her. There’s a reason why they kept their husbands, it’s very likely a “you better say something nice about us to the media or you’re going to kiss your husbands goodbye” situation.
This is the same people that kidnapped her and her husband. It’s hard to tell but not unheard of that Hamas treats hostages nicely, especially if they want to win the PR war.
Seems like she also said that they were bombed by Israeli forces several times while in Gaza. I’m afraid that the one killing the alive hostages now seems to be mostly Israel, but we’ll (as usual) have to wait and see.
I REALLLY hope their tunnel busting bomb did not trap any hostages down there and starve them alive.
Actually seems like Hamas released photos and names of several hostages who died in Israeli bombing. Not sure how that’s possible to confirm.
If, IF they didn’t murder 1400 people, it will be far easier to make people understand their cause and point to Israel being the barbarian. I stand by the opinion that Palestinian should be free from Israel and Israel should respect the green line, but Hamas action makes it really hard to argue with pro-israel people.
Hamas action makes it really hard to argue with pro-israel people.
Hamas’s actions prove that the pro-Israel people don’t know what they’re talking about. The “tough on Palestine” position hasn’t worked, doesn’t work and will never work. To quote something I saw around here, “free Palestine” is the correct response to a tragedy that wouldn’t have happened if Palestine was free.
Oof, yeah, it’s been done again and again and again and Hamas is still here fighting. Israel can’t and will never wash their hand clean if they still hold Palestine land, sea, and sky.
The “tough on Palestine” position hasn’t worked, doesn’t work and will never work.
I agree with this. What I think Palestinians need to accept, regardless of whatever historical justification is used, is that violent military resistance to Israel also has not and never will work. The only thing with any possible chance is both sides accepting a need to co-exist with the other, something neither side has expressed much interest in between Israeli settlements and Hamas rockets.
something neither side has expressed much interest in between Israeli settlements and Hamas rockets.
Just gonna mention that both the PNA and Hamas tried many times in the last 30 years. The PNA had the Oslo accords, the 2000 camp David summit and the 2013, Hamas signed ceasefires in Israel in 2008 and 2012. Additionally both created a short-lived united government (a very important step towards peace) in 2013 that Israel fought every step of the way. While who was at fault in the Camp David summit is a matter of debate, the others Israel was unequivocably the one at fault.
“Palestinians don’t want peace” is basically Israeli propaganda now, and basically ignores the fact that the PNA, which controls the West Bank, has denounced violence for the past 30 years.
I’d agree that the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is a much more legitimate party that generally has made efforts to negotiate in good faith, and that Israel’s actions there are largely indefensible.
I don’t think it can really be denied that Hamas has no real interest in peace though (nor does Netanyahu, for that matter).
I don’t think it can really be denied that Hamas has no real interest in peace though
I mean the ceasefires and united government project seem like good faith efforts towards peace to me. They also changed their charter to only demand a return to 1967 borders, so while it’s weird it seems they’ve decided to settle for a two-state solution rather than killing all Jews. At least that’s what their actions say, and especially when it comes to politicians actions speak louder than words.
At least that’s what their actions say
Yeah, so long as you just completely ignore their actions from two and half weeks ago. Disregarding the murder of a thousand Israeli civilians, they’re not trying to kill Israeli.
If you’re just going to ignore reality, I can find a better use of my time.
Also one of the problems is that both PNA and Hamas are massively corrupt and not interested in actually improving the lot of ordinary Palestinians.
While I don’t trust any non-democratically elected government to actually prioritize their citizens, especially not one in the middle East, there’s also just not much they can do. Gaza is a ghetto under blockade and the West Bank is a Buntustan. It’s Israel who holds all the power and they’re very much happy with the current situation.
How about they don’t line pockets and care for their people, Hamas are criminals. Its a sad reality that none of the involved parties care about palestine people.
Israel know what they want, and they deliberately won’t give them to make Palestine looks bad. The last peace talk had PNA asking them to respecting the green line, retreating IDF from Palestine soil, and also eviction of the illegal settler. The talk drags on for months till the deadline, and finally ended when PNA started reconciliation with Hamas, where Manbaby Netanyahu reject any peace talk due to Hamas.
In the period of the negotiation, they continue to build illegal settlement.
Unfortunately their statements should be taken with a pinch of salt, both of their husbands are still in captivity.
Terrorists holding hostages to threaten more hostages? Who would have thought it
This is the best summary I could come up with:
With her daughter kneeling by the side of her wheelchair, the frail 85-year-old grandmother on Tuesday recalled the moment she was abducted by gunmen on motorbikes after militants broke into her home in the kibbutz Nir Oz.
Hamas released Lifshitz and her neighbor and friend Nurit Cooper, 79, on Monday, and later they were reunited with family members who rushed to their bedside at Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv.
“She’s talking, she can walk, she can hug her grandchildren … It is incredible that we see her,” said Lifshitz’s grandson Daniel, who heard of her release while staying at a hotel in Eilats with other evacuees from Nir Oz.
More than a quarter of the Nir Oz community are dead or remain missing after the Hamas terror attack on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people in barbaric raids, triggering Israeli reprisals that threaten to tip into regional conflict.
The release of the two women takes the total number of captives freed to four, but more than 200 hostages are believed to be trapped in Gaza, some within the labyrinth of Hamas tunnels dug beneath the coastal strip.
Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas in response to the deadly October 7 attacks, and is starving Gaza of water, fuel and food as it pounds key targets with airstrikes.
The original article contains 908 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Is that why she thanked and shook hands with her captors? Source
To Haaretz and American news they “went through hell” to other reputable outlets they were treated with dignity and care.
Which is it?
It’s almost like they were part of a hellish massacre where they watched people die, were beaten and terrified for their lives before they became prisoners and were treated appropriately. It’s almost like they’re describing different parts of their experience in different ways because they were very different.
Nah, that can’t be it. Must be some sort of a conspiracy.
The point is the vastly biased reporting. This title it’s extremely misleading.
Whatever your preconceived notions are.
Are the captors the same people who killed her neighbours?
Ask her.
