Israeli Yocheved Lifschitz, 85, explained this Tuesday at a press conference from Tel Aviv what her captivity was like in the Gaza Strip during the 17 days she remained in the hands of Hamas. Ella Lifschitz recounted that she had been beaten by militants when she was taken to Gaza on October 7, but that they then treated her well during her two-week captivity, Reuters reported.
Lifschitz was one of two women released late Monday, along with Nurit Yitzhak, 80, also known as Nurit Cooper. “I have been through hell, we did not think or know that we would reach this situation,” declared the elderly woman, sitting in a wheelchair at the doors of the Tel Aviv hospital to which she was transferred after her release.
Lifschitz appeared before journalists with her daughter Sharone and said that they had put her on a motorcycle and taken her from their kibbutz (agricultural cooperative) in Nir Oz to the nearby Gaza Strip. “When she was on the motorcycle, she had her head on one side and the rest of her body on the other. The young men beat me on the way. “They hit me in the ribs and it was difficult for me to breathe.” Lifschitz indicated that the militants took her watch and jewelry before driving her toward the Strip on the motorcycle through some bushes.
Her grandson, Daniel Lifschitz, had told Reuters in Tel Aviv before her release that she and her husband, Oded Lifschitz, 83, who is still held by the Palestinian group, were peace activists throughout the war. life. “For more than a decade, they brought sick Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, not from the West Bank, but from the Gaza Strip, every week from the Erez border to hospitals in Israel to receive treatment for their illnesses, to cancer, for anything,” added the grandson.
Yocheved Lifschitz did not avoid criticism of the Israeli Government while recounting details of his captivity: “[Los secuestradores de Hamás] “They blew up the electric fence, that special fence that cost $2.5 billion to build, but that didn’t help at all,” Lifschitz continued. The former activist said that neither the Israeli Government, nor the army, nor the intelligence services took seriously the threatening signals that had been coming from Hamas for three weeks. “We were the Government’s scapegoats. (…) The Government abandoned us three weeks before. [Hamás] “They came en masse to the roads, they set fire to our fields, they sent balloons that caused fires in our fields.”
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
Lifschitz also recounted the initial moment of the October 7 attack, in words reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “They attacked our houses. They beat people, took some hostages. They didn’t distinguish between young and old, it was very painful. They took us to the entrance to the tunnels. We reached the tunnel and walked for miles on wet ground. “There is a giant system of tunnels, like spider webs.”
Lifschitz added: “When we arrived they told us that they were believers of the Koran, that they would not harm us and that we would live in the same conditions as them in the tunnels. We started walking through the tunnels. The earth is wet and everything is always wet and humid. We arrived at a room with 25 people inside. After two or three hours they separated five of the people from my kibbutz, Nir Oz. “They watched us closely.”
The old woman declared that the kidnappers provided medicine to those who needed it. According to her testimony, collected in detail by Israeli journalists from Haaretz, the hostages were treated well and the kidnappers were kind to them. “They laid us down on mattresses, made sure we didn’t get sick, and we had a doctor with us every two or three days.”
Lifschitz indicated that the kidnappers divided their victims into groups based on their place of residence. “They kept us very clean. “They made sure we ate the same thing they did: pita bread with white cheese, melted cheese and cucumber.” When asked about the image from the moment of her release, in which she is seen shaking hands with one of the Hamas captors, Lifschitz said: “They treated us delicately and took care of us. They were prepared for this, they had been preparing for this for a long time. They had everything women and men would need. Even shampoo and conditioner.”
There are still 220 hostages in the hands of Hamas.
Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.
#captivity #Hamas #tunnels #85yearold #hostage #hell