JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Yocheved Lifshitz, one of the women freed from Hamas captivity on Monday night, spoke for the first time with the media on Tuesday, but did not answer questions by journalists.
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Lifshitz, whose husband is still being held captive in Gaza, remains hospitalized at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
“My name is Yocheved Lifshitz, and I was born in 1938, in Israel,” she began. “I thank you for coming to hear my tragedy and that of my friends.”
'I went through hell’
Freed hostage Yocheved Lifshitz recounts being kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. She told the media that she was beaten, taken into the Hamas tunnels which they "walked through for several kilometers" — "it’s a huge network, it looks like a spider web" pic.twitter.com/8lvk6saURz
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 24, 2023
“I went through unspeakable horrors , we didn’t know we would reach such a situation. They went wild in the kibbutz (Nir Oz), they kidnapped me, they laid me on the side of the motorcycle and drove through the fields towards Gaza. During this time, they took my watch and my jewelry, and the shabab (young people) beat me with sticks.
“They blew up the fence, which they built for two and a half billion shekel, and it didn’t do anything.”
“They raided our homes. There was no difference between elderly and youth, and they kidnapped them all. On the way, while I lay on the motorcycle, they hurt me a lot. They didn’t break my ribs but made it very hard for me to breathe.”
Lifshitz described the long walk on wet ground and the tunnels which she said stretch for many kilometers and are “like a spider’s web”. Initially they were a group of 25 people but they were then placed in a group of five in a room with other members of her kibbutz
Lifshitz also described the food they received, which she said consisted of pitot, cheese and cucumbers for the entire day, as well as the sanitary conditions and medical attention, which she said were satisfactory.
Lifshitz was pictured Monday night shaking the hand of the Hamas terrorist as he handed her over to the Red Cross. Asked about this controversial step, she said that he had behaved well towards her.
The living hostages,. including her husband, are being kept in good health so they can be exchanged for Hamas and PIJ terrorists. Perhaps due to a bit of Stockholm syndrome, plus exhaustion etc, and fear of what might happen to her husband. this poor elderly woman from a secular radical leftist background (tinoket sh’nishba) had some positive things to say which will be spread around the world as evidence of the humane treatment by Hamas of its hostages. We should NOT judge her in any way. We SHOULd be furious at the Israelis who made the absolutely insane decision to allow a traumatized woman give a live press conference. It was wrong for so many reasons.
I honestly think she was told to do/say this for her own husband sake. Image of she would say what she really went through and tell the truth you think her husband would be coming out a live from it. And let’s say for for arguments sake to top it off you think hama did it out of the goodness of their heart (their the ones who caused all this) they did it to show the world how “care and humane ” they are and that Israel is really the bad guy
There is really only one military solution to the tunnels but no decent Jewish person will even speak it because of what happened during WWII. It would also result in the deaths of the hostages in the tunnels, something we are unable to bear.
Sleeping gas injected into the tunnels would make sure nobody dies and the idf can do what they need to do
She is a Peace Now activist. She worked hard to bring peace and food and good will to the poople in the Gaza strip. So they let her go and she praises them.
Nothing about haShem or her husband….