Recovering Hostages Describe Ordeal In Captivity And Miraculous Rescue Operation

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The hostages rescued in the dramatic daylight operation on Saturday are gradually recovering from their ordeal in hospital. .The director of Sheba Medical Center said the four captives were suffering from malnutrition and won’t be released home for at least a couple of days.

Dr. Itai Pesach, director of Safra Hospital at Sheba Medical Center-Tel Hashomer, updated on the rescued captives’ medical condition: “We identified a severe deficiency of essential nutritional components in their bodies, muscle mass turned into fat. They might look fine at first glance, but they are suffering from malnutrition.”

Dr. Pesach added that “Their situation was similar to other captives. In the initial hours after their liberation they were ecstatic: happy, wanting to communicate and share what they had been through.” According to Dr. Pesach, they experienced a slump later. “They went through difficult things and will require long months of psychological and medical support.” He said that the three will remain hospitalized at Sheba for at least another couple days.

Almog Meir related that for the entire period of captivity he had been with Andrei and Shlomi in the same room. “Sometimes the terrorists bullied us but we stayed strong and supported one another. We are very united.” Almog added that sometimes they cooked for themselves and even succeeded in doing physical training.

Meir said that “We saw the demonstration a day before Holocaust Day on television, and I saw my picture hanging there. The terrorists updated us on events, we knew about the demonstrations and vigils and the debate over the Draft Law. I kept a diary and counted the days and that’s how I knew that my mother was celebrating her birthday today.

Almog added that when the IDF arrived to rescue them, “Both we and the terrorists were sleeping. We heard the forces and didn’t believe it at first. During the evacuation we were fired at from all directions and when we came out the car got stuck twice and it was very nervewracking.”

Noa Argamani was in a nearby building. Her rescue was more banal. According to IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari, who was watching video feeds from drones circling above and soldiers’ helmet cameras, Israeli troops succeeded in reaching Argamani’s apartment without tipping off her guards.

“In Noa Argamani’s building, we surprised them completely,” Hagari told the Washington Post.

The stunned young woman was bustled down the stairs into a vehicle and driven to a helicopter waiting nearby.

Soldiers relayed the good news with a coded phrase: “We have the diamond in our hand.”

The chopper lifted off, heading for a hospital near Tel Aviv. At 12:20 p.m., Argamani’s family was told she was free.

The guards with the three male hostages however had not been taken by surprise. A Yamam commander was shot as they entered the building. A firefight erupted, exposing the covert mission.

“Immediately, it became a war zone,” said Amir Avivi, a reservist brigadier general and former deputy commander of the IDF’s Gaza division who was briefed on the operation.

The soldiers were able to get the three hostages and the injured man into a vehicle, but it broke down under Hamas fire from rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, officials said. At one point, Avivi said, they were forced to abandon the vehicle and seek refuge in a building nearby.

The commanders called for air support.

“The air force started shooting to give them a corridor, a wall of fire,” said retired Maj. Gen. David Tsur, a former Yamam commander.

Under this wall of fire the commandos succeeded in fighting their way out to an arriving IDF helicopter which evacuated the hostages, but not before it was fired at by Hamas terrorists.