Rehenes relatives denounce the harsh conditions facing some of the kidnapped
Several relatives of hostages kidnapped by Hamas and retained in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023 have denounced the harsh conditions faced by some of the kidnapped. Tied, deprived of food, injured and subjected to torture. Thus several of the hostages survive, according to the information that their families have received from Israeli military and security officials and that collects the local press.
On Saturday, Hamas delivered three hostages – Eli Sharabi, 52; Or Levy, 34, and Ohad Ben-Ami, 56-after 491 days of captivity, apparently a good part of the time in tunnels. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamín Netanyahu, announced reprisals before his “serious state.” The relatives of the hostages that follow in the strip have reiterated the importance of the high fire being maintained so that all the kidnapped can return home.
El Alto El Fuego, entered into force on January 19, provides that in the first phase of the Hamas agreement deliver to 33 hostages, of which only 25 are still alive, in exchange for some 1,500 Palestinian prisoners. So far, approximately half of these exchanges have been carried out.
Idit Ohel, whose son Alon Ohel turned 24 yesterday Monday while still in captivity in Gaza, told journalists at a press conference that he had learned by military sources that his son was receiving very little food and no medical attention for multiple injuries, including a wound in the eye that has left it partially blind. Ohel, who was captured at the Nova Music Festival during the attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, has remained tied for much of the time and has been tortured, alleges his family.
Sigi Cohen, the mother of another hostage, Eliya Cohen, who was 26 when he was captured, said he had known for Israeli security forces that his son – who was shot in his leg during the 2023 attack against Israel – either He has received treatment for wounds. His son – he says – hardly sees the sunlight and has been tied during most of his almost 500 days of captivity.
The Hostage Family Forum has denounced that the kidnapped face “hunger”, “water deprivation” and “torture” and that many had returned home with infections and that they had been subjected to “extreme physical and emotional abuses.” The forum fears that any delay in the release of hostages “would probably cost lives.”
“Yesterday they returned my brother or after 491 days of hell,” said Michael Levy in a statement on Sunday. “I hugged him, but it was not the same or who left home on October 7,” he added. He assures that his brother had returned in bad physical conditions and had spent 16 months “hungry, barefoot and with constant fear” that every day it could be the last. It was only Saturday when his brother knew that his wife, Einav Levy, had not survived the slaughter of October 7, 2023.
Offer Calderón, was released earlier, declared Monday in a statement that was retained in tunnels without seeing daylight, without access to the media, suffering hunger and spending whole months without showering.
