“I’ve been through hell, we didn’t think we would get to this situation,” is how Yocheved Lifshitz described the time she spent kidnapped by Hamas. Last night, this 85-year-old Israeli woman was released, along with 79-year-old Nurit Cooper, after spending 16 days held by Hamas. According to a spokesperson for the organization, the release of these two elderly women occurs “for humanitarian reasons,” after two other American women were released on Friday for the same reason. Egypt and Qatar played an important role as mediators.
Several members of the al Qasam Brigades, the military branch of Hamas, handed the two women over to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Despite everything she suffered, some images show how Yocheved said goodbye to her kidnappers saying shalom, a word used to say hello and goodbye in Hebrew and which means peace.
That gesture of kindness comes from a woman who was a peace activist and who, together with her husband, helped sick Palestinians in Gaza to reach Israeli hospitals for years, her grandson told Reuters.
After saying goodbye, health teams took the two women to Israel. Now Yocheved is admitted to the Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv, from where she made a statement recounting her experience under the hands of Hamas.
The elderly woman said that when she was transported to Gaza, they put her on a motorcycle, beat her with sticks, and took away the watch and jewelry she was wearing. “My ribs were not broken, but it hurt and it was difficult for me to breathe,” said Yocheved. Once the motorcycle ride was over, he was forced to walk cross-country for several kilometers until he reached a tunnel to enter the Gaza Strip, according to he recounted at the press conference.
At first, she was led through a large network of tunnels, which she described as a “spider web”, to a room where there were 25 other Hamas abductees. She was later taken along with four other hostages to a separate room. Despite the initial violence, thereafter Yocheved said that there, “we were treated well” and “all our needs were taken care of.”
The octogenarian explained that they were given food and were even visited by a doctor who made sure that the hostages could receive the medication they were already taking in Israel. “They took good care of the wounded,” she said. Her daughter, who spoke for her during the conference, said that her mother had been kept in a clean place and that the group members had taken care of all the details.
In her statements, Yocheved was critical of the actions of the Israeli army, which according to her “did not take the threat from Hamas seriously enough.” She also regretted that a fence that cost “2 billion” had not served to protect Israelis.
