Africa-Press – Mauritius. An Israeli hostage freed by Hamas has spoken of her ordeal at the hands of her captors in Gaza, saying: “I went through hell. ” Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, spoke to reporters at a hospital in Tel Aviv on Tuesday after was taken out of the territory at the Rafah crossing into Egypt along with Nurit Cooper, 79, on Monday night.
They were put into ambulances and flown to Tel Aviv. The two women, along with their husbands, were snatched from their homes in the kibbutz of Nir Oz near the Gaza border during Hamas’s murderous rampage into southern Israeli communities on October 7.
Their husbands, ages 83 and 84, were not released. Mrs Lifshitz’s daughter, Sharone Lifschitz, an artist and academic who lives in London, earlier spoke of her relief that her mother had been handed over by the Palestinian militants.
She said: “While I cannot put into words the relief that she is now safe, I will remain focused on securing the release of my father and all those – some 200 innocent people – who remain hostages in Gaza,”
She told reporters last week that her parents were peace activists, and her father would drive to the Gaza border to take Palestinians to east Jerusalem for medical treatment.
Hamas’s ambush left 1,400 people dead and ignited fresh violence in the region, with more than 5,000 Palestinians killed in retaliatory strikes. UN calls for ‘unimpeded flow of aid into Gaza’
The Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have called for an “unimpeded and continuous flow of humanitarian assistance and medical assistance to continue coming into Gaza”.
“The trucks that have come in so far are just a trickle in the face of the immense needs of people on the street,” according to Tamara Alrifai – spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
She went on to repeat pleas for Israel to allow fuel into Gaza, saying it is needed for hospital generators, bakeries and the water desalination plant.
WHO said medicines and health supplies had been delivered to three key referral hospitals in southern Gaza but that it still needed to reach the north of the Palestinian enclave, one of the most densely-populated places in the world.
People in Gaza ‘stabbing each other for a bag of bread’ A Palestinian has told of people in Gaza being so desperate they are attacking each other for bread.
Emad Abuaassi, who moved from Blackpool in the UK to Gaza around a year ago, told the BBC: “I reckon in the next two, three days people are going to start killing each other for a bit of food here.
“You go to buy a bit of bread, you’ll see people stabbing each other just for the sake of a bag of bread.
” Freed hostage was peace activist who helped sick Gazans reach hospitals
Yocheved Lifshitz, who has dominated headlines since she was released by Hamas militants last night, was an activist with her husband 83-year-old Oded, her grandson has said.
Before Ms Lifshitz’s release was confirmed, Daniel Lifshitz revealed details about who is grandparents are. He said: “They are human rights activists, peace activists for all their life.
“For more than a decade, they took .
sick Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, not from the West Bank, from the Gaza Strip every week from the Erez border to the hospitals in Israel to get treatment for their disease, for cancer, for anything.
French President Emmanuel Macron said terrorism was the “common enemy” of France and Israel, saying Israelis would not be left to live “under Hamas tyranny” and that they are “not alone”.
Benjamin Netanyahu blames Hamas for civilian deaths in Gaza The Israeli Prime Minister said Hamas was setting up checkpoints with guns to stop Palestinians from moving south where it is safe and where there is aid.
But he went on to say Israel would still try to protect civilians in its war against Hamas. He is currently speaking at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Source: Standard
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