An old woman Israeli hostage, Yocheved Lifshitz, who was released by Hamas overnight said that she was beaten by militants as she was taken into Gaza on October 7, but was then well-treated during her two-week captivity in the Palestinian enclave.
Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, said a day after her release, “The guys beat me on the way, they didn’t break my ribs but hurt me there very much.”
“They treated us well,” she told media at a Tel Aviv hospital, describing a doctor who visited her and fellow hostages every two to three days.
Lifshitz was one of two women freed late Monday, leaving around 220 hostages still in the hands of Hamas.
Seated in a wheelchair, she told reporters that a doctor had visited her while she was held in a network of tunnels within Gaza and that all her needs had been taken care of.
She said that Hamas treated her gently and met all her needs during captivity.
Expressing her experience at the press conference, Lifshitz said that she was taken into tunnels inside Gaza that looked like “spiderweb,” adding that the location they were held at was shelled several times.
The Israeli military did not take the threat of Hamas seriously, she said.
