A three-year-old girl with dual Israeli and American citizenship will be freed in the next few hours after a month and a half of imprisonment in Gaza thanks to the personal intervention of US President Joe Biden who spoke about her case with the Emir of Qatar Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani.
Israel Hamas at war, today’s news November 22nd
Together with her, American officials said, two other US citizens will be released in the context of the liberation – in the first four days of the ceasefire – of around 50 hostages held captive by Hamas. The little girl is Avigail Idan, kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 in the Kfar Aza kibbutz after the point-blank assassination of her parents, Roi and Smadar. Avigail’s two older brothers managed to escape, remaining locked in a closet at home for hours. The little girl instead ran to a neighbor, Hagar Brodtz, who was also kidnapped by the militiamen together with her three children. In the evening, Hamas had not yet published the names of those it is preparing to release. In a sort of cruel lottery, the kidnappers reserve the right to publish the identity of those who will be released the next day a few hours in advance, from day to day.
The Islamic faction received a list from Israel with around a hundred names to choose from and it is assumed that the first to return home will be children, teenagers, women and even the elderly, some of whom are sick. Such a massive return of hostages is unprecedented for the Jewish state. Six major medical centers have been put on alert and ordered to set up separate departments to allow those returning from captivity in Gaza – probably after being segregated in bunkers for 45 days – to gradually recover their physical and mental balance . Once released by Hamas, they will pass into the hands of the Red Cross and then of soldiers who have been tasked with accompanying them to the clinics. The instructions to the soldiers who will take custody of the children are very detailed. They will have to introduce themselves with their name, explain that they are soldiers of Israel and that they were tasked with taking them to safety with their loved ones.
If they see that children are struggling to move, they should offer them help, but without imposing. They must also refrain from answering if the children ask where their parents are, because in many cases the answer can be traumatic and should be entrusted to a family member or a child psychologist. If the children have left puppies behind, they should be able to hug them again when they enter Israel. In the hospitals the former hostages will find teams of social workers and psychologists waiting for them. One of the fears – in light of the October 7 massacres – is that they may have been subjected to sexual abuse. In the meantime, special diets have been prepared for them, to re-acclimate the body after a prolonged period of possible malnutrition. After this initial phase, the adults will be interrogated by the secret services to obtain information on the other hostages remaining in Gaza. In the first few days everyone will remain isolated from the media, but will obviously be able to hug their families again.
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