Current:Home > FinanceIsraeli hostage released by Hamas, Yocheved Lifshitz, talks about ordeal, and why she shook her captor's hand-LoTradeCoin
Israeli hostage released by Hamas, Yocheved Lifshitz, talks about ordeal, and why she shook her captor's hand
View Date:2024-12-25 03:19:23
Yocheved Lifshitz, one of two elderly hostages released Monday by Hamas, told journalists Tuesday morning that she "went through hell" and was beaten on the day she was captured, but that she shook the hand of a Hamas militant as she was returned because she was treated well in captivity.
Lifshitz was abducted with her 83-year-old husband Oded from their home at the Nir Oz kibbutz, close to the border with Gaza, but Lifshitz said she was not held in captivity with Oded, who remained missing on Tuesday.
Hamas said it had released Lifshitz, 85, along with 79-year-old Nurit Cooper, on health grounds late Monday. The Palestinian group, long listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and many other nations, is still holding more than 200 people hostage after its unprecedented October 7 rampage across southern Israel.
Israeli officials say the group killed more than 1,400 people in its initial siege and with its ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza. Health officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Tuesday that more than 5,700 people had been killed by Israel's airstrikes, but Israel disputes that figure.
Lifshitz and her husband are longtime human rights activists and her family has said they've both worked with a local organization that helps bring injured Palestinians to area hospitals. Video of the moment she was handed over from her Hamas captors on Monday shows her shaking hands with one of the militants and saying, "shalom," a traditional Hebrew greeting meaning "peace."
At a news conference Tuesday alongside her daughter Sharone, Lifshitz described how Hamas militants "stormed, beat, kidnapped without distinction between young and old," on the day of the October 7 attack.
"They kidnapped me and laid me on my side on a motorcycle and flew with me through the plowed fields with a rope on each side of me. During this time, the jewelry was taken off my body," a frail-looking Lifshitz said, seated in a wheelchair.
She added that the Hamas attackers had easily broken through a protective electric fence around her kibbutz, which she said Israeli authorities had installed.
Sharone Lifshitz, who was helping translate her mother's remarks from Hebrew into English, said her elderly mother had been struck with sticks by her abductors and brought by Hamas through what she described as a "huge network of tunnels underground… like a spider web."
The 85-year-old woman said that when she and the other captives she was with were first taken into the Hamas tunnels, "they said they believe the Quran and they will not harm us."
She said a doctor was present and would visit the hostages every few days, bringing required medications, and that Hamas members treated their prisoners "gently" over the two weeks she was held.
When asked why she had shaken the hand of one of her captors, Lifshitz said they "met all our needs. They seemed ready for this. They prepared it for a long time and prepared all the needs that women and men need."
Despite what she described as humane treatment, Lifshitz made it clear that her ordeal "was very difficult," and that it wouldn't be something she quickly put behind her, saying: "I have everything in my memory all the time."
Lifshitz sharply criticized the Israeli military for allowing the attack to happen in the first place.
"We were the scapegoat. The army and the state abandoned us. They [Hamas] burned our fields, sent fire balloons, crowds came," she said, referring to smaller scale Hamas attacks in the months and years before October 7. "The army did not take it seriously."
The head of Israel's military intelligence agency has personally taken responsibility for failing to detect and thwart the brutal Hamas attack, which some analysts believe was planned almost openly by the militants for many months.
- In:
- War
- Hostage Situation
- Hamas
- Israel
- Palestinians
- Gaza Strip
veryGood! (54828)
Related
- Minnesota man is free after 16 years in prison for murder that prosecutors say he didn’t commit
- YouTube prankster says he had no idea he was scaring man who shot him
- Why Patrick Mahomes Felt “Pressure” Having Taylor Swift Cheering on Travis Kelce at NFL Game
- Moscow court upholds 19-year prison sentence for Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny
- What’s the secret to growing strong, healthy nails?
- WNBA player Chiney Ogwumike named to President Biden’s council on African diplomacy
- Nevada man gets life in prison for killing his pregnant girlfriend on tribal land in 2020
- Kate Moss Reveals Why She's in Denial About Turning 50
- After years of unrest, Commanders have reinvented their culture and shattered expectations
- How Ariana Grande's Inner Circle Feels About Ethan Slater Romance
Ranking
- Deion Sanders says he would prevent Shedeur Sanders from going to wrong team in NFL draft
- Millions of Americans will lose food assistance if the government shuts down
- California governor signs law raising taxes on guns and ammunition to pay for school safety
- Cost of building a super-size Alabama prison rises to more than $1 billion
- Democrat George Whitesides wins election to US House, beating incumbent Mike Garcia
- Retired police chief killed in hit-and-run died in 'cold and callous' way: Family
- A Dominican immigration agent is accused of raping a Haitian woman who was detained at an airport
- Former Speaker Paul Ryan says Republicans will lose if Donald Trump is nominee
Recommendation
-
Gerry Faust, former Notre Dame football coach, dies at 89
-
There's a good chance you're not planning for retirement correctly. Here's why.
-
With Tiger Woods as his caddie, Charlie Woods sinks putt to win Notah Begay golf event
-
Amazon sued by FTC and 17 states over allegations it inflates online prices and overcharges sellers
-
Seattle man faces 5 assault charges in random sidewalk stabbings
-
Supreme Court allows drawing of new Alabama congressional map to proceed, rejecting state’s plea
-
Searchers find body believed to be that of a woman swept into ocean from popular Washington beach
-
U.S. sues Amazon in a monopoly case that could be existential for the retail giant