The harrowing images of Saturday’s release of three more hostages held by Hamas has increased pressure on the Israeli government to bring the remaining hostages home while their lives can still be saved.
Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami all looked emaciated, pale and weak, to such an extent that comparisons were made with the survivors of Nazi concentration camps. Doctors who carried out initial medical tests confirmed that all three were suffering from acute malnutrition.
New information emerged following their release about the conditions in which they were kept. The three captives were deliberately starved and received a single rancid pita bread every few days, which they were forced to share with other hostages. Their captors denied them water for days at a time and one of the three hostages collapsed in front of the others.
The three men, all civilians, were taken individually for interrogation, in the course of which they were subjected to severe torture. Hamas operatives strangled them, they reported, hanged them from their feet and burned their flesh.
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The hostages said they were held in a small room inside a tunnel. They were unable to stand up straight and had difficulty breathing.
Shortly before their release, their captors slightly increased the quantities of food they were given so that they would be strong enough to stand on their own feet on the day they were released.
The family of another hostage, Eliya Cohen, said information received from hostages already released indicated he was alive, but that he had been shackled in chains for a year and four months,had gunshot wounds in his legs and was subjected to severe physical and psychological abuse.
Cohen’s mother, Sigi, lashed out at those in the government opposing the continuation of the ceasefire deal, saying they should send their own children into Gaza instead of her son.
“After your son has been there for 493 days and you see his friends returning looking like Holocaust survivors, then come and talk,” she said.
The images and the emerging details have increased the pressure on the Israeli government to expedite the ceasefire talks in order to bring about the return of the remaining 76 hostages as quickly as possible.
Israeli decision-makers have in fact known for a long time about the harsh conditions the captives are held in. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu remains reluctant to move to the second stage of the ceasefire and declare a permanent end to the war, fearing that such a commitment would prompt the far-right Religious Zionist party to quit the government, possibly forcing new elections.
Many of the relatives of the hostages no longer trust the Netanyahu government and are pinning their hopes on US president Donald Trump to ensure that all the hostages are set free.
Protesters outside Mr Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Monday urged him not to sabotage the second stage of the ceasefire.
Shir Siegel, the daughter of freed hostage Keith Siegel, said it was possible to bring back the hostages still held in Gaza but “the decision-makers are choosing not to”.
The Israeli delegation of negotiators returned from Doha, Qatar, on Monday, where they had held talks on the ceasefire, but the low-level delegation did not have a mandate to make progress.
Israel’s security cabinet will, meanwhile, convene on Tuesday to discuss the second stage of the ceasefire. However, comments by Israeli officials about the need to continue the war and destroy Hamas are only likely to lead to Hamas hardening its position and endangering the ceasefire talks.
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