A GRANDMOTHER released by Hamas last night spoke of the “hell” she went through while imprisoned in Gaza’s “spider web” of terror tunnels.
Traumatised Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, survived two weeks at the hands of the terrorists who dragged her deep into their lair, beat her and fed her cheese.
ReutersYocheved Lifshitz has spoken of the ‘hell’ she experienced at the hands of Hamas[/caption]
GettyThe pensioner spoke to reporters outside Ichilov Hospital where she is recovering after her ‘nightmare’ ordeal[/caption]
ReutersYocheved and Nurit Cooper were released last night after over two weeks of captivity[/caption]
Yocheved was handed over to the Red Cross late on Monday with fellow hostage Nurit Cooper, 79. Both were airlifted to hospital and reunited with their relieved families.
Hamas said it freed them over “compelling humanitarian” reasons, but both their elderly husbands, aged 83 and 84, remain inside Gaza as hostages.
Today, a frail-looking and wheelchair-bound Yocheved spoke outside a Tel Aviv hospital about the “nightmare” she experienced.
“I went through a nightmare we couldn’t have imagined. I constantly have the images of what happened repeating in my mind.”
She described how she was kidnapped and dragged away on a motorbike tied with her legs on one side and her head on the other during Hamas’s bloody rampage on October 7.
The terrorists hit her with a wooden pole and they stormed through ploughed fields.
“They didn’t break my ribs, but it hurt me a lot in that area, making it difficult to breathe. They stole my watch and jewellery.”
Once they reached Gaza, they were forced to walk several kilometres on wet ground inside the “spider web” of Hamas’s terror tunnels.
Through the two-week ordeal, Yocheved said she slept on mattresses on the floor close to 25 other cowering captives.
“They gave us pitta bread, hard cheese, some low fat cream cheese and cucumber. That was our food for the entire day,” she added, stating it was what her captors ate.
Yocheved described the experience as “hell”.
She also noted that Hamas seemed “really prepared” and that the operation appeared to have been planned for a long time.
“They schooled us with this terrible attack,” she said, while accusing Israel of ignoring Hamas’s threats to attack.
As she was freed last night, Yocheved was filmed shaking hands with her balaclava-clad captor and wishing him peace.
Despite the many hardships, she said “they treated us well” and added that a doctor visited her and fellow hostages every two to three days.
Sharone, an artist and academic based in London, said it was “incredible” to be reunited with her mother – “to hold her hand and to kiss her cheek”.
“She is very sharp and is very keen to share the information, pass on the information to families of other hostages she was with,” she told the BBC.
Sharone said she will continue to campaign for the release of her father, Oded Lifschitz, and the other captives.
“I hope he is being looked after and has the chance to talk.
“My mum said they had been looked after and there was a doctor there, so this gives a lot of comfort to everybody.
“We have so many people that we’ve lost – it is a little ray of light but there is a huge darkness as well.”
The UK government said six of its nationals are among those still being held hostage and stated it was “our absolute priority” to free them.
The release of the two women brings the total number of freed hostages to four after an American woman and her teen daughter were released on October 20.
Judith Raanan, 60, and Natalie, 17, had been visiting Israel from Chicago for a birthday when the Hamas massacres took place.
An IDF intelligence officer, Yossi Alpher, today claimed Hamas is releasing hostages slowly in the hopes of delaying Israel’s ground offensive.
“If we want to wait two or three years, maybe we’ll get another hundred hostages,” he fumed, adding that there should be no gratitude to Hamas for the pair released.
It comes as Hamas terrorists filmed themselves blowing up a father with a grenade in front of his terrified kids who screamed “I want to die” in the latest atrocity to be uncovered.
It is part of a grisly compilation of footage released by Israel as a captive Hamas fighter claims he was under direct orders to “behead” innocents.
Israel said it had been forced to release the almost unwatchable montage to thwart a misinformation campaign by deluded supporters of its terrorist enemy.
One clip showed a father being blown up by a grenade and his two young sons being spattered with his blood as they attempted to flee.
One of the boys can be heard screaming: “Daddy’s dead, it’s not a prank. I wish I were dead.”
Israel claimed that another video was taken during an interrogation of a 24-year-old captive from Hamas’s Zaiton battalion.
The Hamas terrorist shockingly claimed he was under direct orders to “behead” women, children and the elderly.
If the captive terrorist’s claims are true then it is likely to spark a fresh storm over Hamas commanders’ specific orders to decapitate innocent Jewish victims alongside other sickening crimes.
Meanwhile, Israel continues to blitz the Gaza Strip with renewed intensity as their expected ground invasion looms ever-nearer.
Gaza’s health ministry says more than 5,000 have been killed since Israel began its bombardment of the densely-populated enclave.
In the past 24 hours, the IDF claims to have hit 400 targets, including several Hamas commanders, while their tanks and troops swarm close to the border.
The 85-year-old was beaten as she was dragged into Gaza
Armed fighters in one of the deep tunnels under Gaza City
An underground Hamas rocket storage facility where weapons are launched from
Judith Raanan and her daughter Natalie crossing back across the Israel border
Israel has vowed to crush Hamas and hunt down every militant who stormed across the border as they mass tanks and troops at border Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
