Neglect, torture and humiliation: The Ministry of Health has recently completed work on a draft special report that includes hard-hitting testimonies from the hostages who were released in the previous deal or rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza. Once the work on the report is complete, it will be transferred to the Justice Ministry and presented to the United Nations committee that deals with torture.
"It contains materials that tell the story of those who returned from captivity over the past year, some in the major return operation in the last week of November 2023, and some in other cases of rescue," a senior official at the Health Ministry said of the report. The Health Ministry was careful to word the information provided in the report in a way that would prevent identification of the freed hostage and there is no mention of ages or family composition.
The senior official at the Health Ministry added that the report "includes information that the returning hostages did not share in the first weeks after returning home. As time passed, they allowed themselves to share more. It describes many aspects of neglect, torture, humiliation, and physical and mental abuse."
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Calling for the release of the hostages at Hostages Square in Tel Avivi
(Photo: Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
According to the draft, some of the hostages experienced a very large weight loss, and they experienced starvation and malnutrition. In adults, this was reflected in a loss of 8 to 15 kilograms, and in children there was an average loss of 10% of their pre-captivity weight, in some cases a loss of 18% of their weight. The report noted that this loss has significant consequences, such as "muscle breakdown and a weakened immune system. As a result of appalling hygiene, and unclean water, hostages suffered from stomach pains and diarrhea during their time in captivity. All of this has serious psychological consequences, certainly when it comes to children."
It was also noted that, in preparation for the return operation last year, the captors fed the hostages. This was reflected in the blood tests of the survivors of captivity. The report describes the fear in Israel of what is defined as "immediate feeding syndrome after starvation." After 446 days in captivity, the fear that the captors will give the hostages still in Gaza to food gain weight - putting their lives at risk - is even greater.
According to the draft report, the hostages were held alone in the dark for days, tied hand and foot, and given very little food. They were beaten all over their bodies, some had their hair pulled out, and in some cases their skin was burned with an iron heated over a hot fire. Others testified to a lack of showers and to being forced to defecate on themselves.
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Released hostages transported back to Israel by the Red Cross
(Photo: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa, Reuters)
It is also noted that several hostages described having their bandages changed without painkillers, and that they experienced immense pain under medical treatment. The hostages who were released were in very poor sanitary conditions, and sometimes it took days and hours before they were allowed to go to the bathroom.
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The purpose of publishing the report is to tell the world what the hostages went through in Hamas captivity, given that the health of some of them has deteriorated in the long time that has passed since the previous hostage return deal. A senior official in the Health Ministry concluded: "The most important thing is that those who can influence, certainly in the world, will understand that they need to put pressure on Hamas and make them return the hostages home."
Health Minister Uriel Bosso told Ynet: "I see this as a significant report that describes the horrors the hostages endured and will expose to the world the cruelty of the enemies we face. The evidence presented in it is a wake-up call for the world to put more pressure on Hamas and its supporters to release everyone, now."