JERUSALEM: Israel gave a grim account Monday of seven freed hostages’ health, saying that despite a “show” by Hamas to present them as healthy and smiling, they faced a long recovery from their ordeal.
The seven women freed so far under Israel’s ceasefire deal with the Palestinian militant group were all malnourished, exposed to psychological suffering and wounded in various ways, said the deputy chief of the Israeli army’s medical corps, Col. Avi Benov.
Images of four Israeli soldiers — aged 19 and 20 — released in Gaza on Saturday by Hamas showed them looking healthy and smiling. They greeted people around them and clutched parting gifts in paper bags as they were handed over to the Red Cross.
But Benov said there was more to the story.
“They were given more food in the days before (their release), they were allowed to shower, they were given (new) clothes,” he said in a video call open to the media.
“This is part of the show organized by Hamas.”
Since the deal took effect on January 19, the militants have freed a total of seven Israeli hostages in exchange for 290 prisoners, all Palestinians except for one Jordanian.
But despite the hostages’ joy and relief at being reunited with their families, it “will take time” for them to recover, said Benov.
Hospitalized after their release, the women have been diagnosed with physical health problems including malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies and a metabolic system “in bad shape,” he said.
Some of the hostages had been held for the past eight months in tunnels, Benov said.
“For them it’s more complicated because light, sun and to be able to talk with someone are essential elements to be physically and mentally healthy,” he said, without naming them or giving further details.
All the hostages were “wounded one way or the other” when they were captured on October 7, 2023 in the Hamas attack that ignited the ensuing war, Benov said.
Their wounds were poorly treated in captivity, or not at all, he added.
Hostages who were freed during a previous truce in November 2023 have said some wounded captives were operated on with no anaesthesia.
But the most “complicated” wounds are psychological, said Benov.
“Even if they look happy, a fear remains. It’s hard for them to believe that this time around they’re in good hands, that it’s not another show organized by Hamas,” he said.
Benov declined to answer a question on whether the hostages had been victims of physical abuse, torture or sexual violence, saying it was important to “protect their privacy.”
“They will tell what they went through, if they want to, in a few weeks or a few months,” he said.
An Israeli health ministry report sent in December to the United Nations special rapporteur on torture said the hostages released in November 2023 had suffered various forms of physical and psychological violence.
It said freed hostages had reported being branded with hot irons, beaten, sexually assaulted, held in isolation and deprived of food.
Numerous ex-hostages showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and survivor’s guilt, the report said.
Benov said hostages set for release in the coming weeks would likely be in even worse health.
Under the deal, they include captive men over 50 or in poor health.
“We are expecting that the next hostages to be released, who are older, with some of them already ill when they were kidnapped, will come back in worse condition,” he said.
Freed hostages’ smiles deceptive, Israel’s military says
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Freed hostages’ smiles deceptive, Israel’s military says
UN: Almost 7.7 million in South Sudan face ‘crisis’ hunger levels
- The deeply impoverished nation has battled instability and insecurity since independence in 2011
- Violence between forces allied to the president and his deputy further threatens to destabilize the country
The deeply impoverished nation has battled instability and insecurity since independence in 2011, with violence between forces allied to the president and his deputy further threatening to destabilize the country.
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement Wednesday that 7.7 million people face the third-highest category of need – defined as “crisis, emergency, or catastrophic.”
“This is close to record highs,” the statement said.
Around 63,000 people were defined as of the highest need and 2.53 million the category below, most located in the northeastern Upper Nile State region, a spokesperson said.
That part of the country is enduring an uptick in violence as forces allied to President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar clash.
Machar is currently under house arrest in capital Juba, leaving his party to appoint Stephen Par Kuol as interim leader.
The WFP said the Upper Nile region was the “most impacted by the escalation of conflict,” with one million people facing “high levels of hunger.”
“There is no shelter at all and there is scarcity of food,” Reath Yian Ulang, 32, said from Ulang county in Upper Nile State.
“We used to rely on food brought by traders from Ethiopia but because of the current crisis the traders have all fled back to Ethiopia in fear,” the father-of-four said by phone.
“People now drink water from the swamps.”
The agency also said efforts to get life-saving assistance to those in the direst need was being hampered by the violence.
“Insecurity has forced WFP to pause distributions in six counties in the region for the safety of our staff, partners and the people we serve,” it said.
Additionally, more than 1.1 million people have fled to South Sudan since the start of the two-year civil war in Sudan – most arriving in the Upper Nile region – and almost half are facing “catastrophic” levels of hunger, WFP added in the statement.
South Sudan is also grappling with a cholera outbreak, with UNICEF saying roughly 40,000 cases have been reported since September including almost 700 deaths – with children disproportionately affected.
The United States’ decision to slash international aid has also impacted the country, with humanitarian workers warning children were dying as a result of remote facilities being closed.
Gaza rescuer risks life to save victim of Israel strike
- In a video, civil defense member Shaghnobi can be seen desperately trying to pull wounded man out from under a mound of rubble after a strike on a school on Thursday
GAZA CITY: Arriving in the deadly aftermath of an Israeli strike in northern Gaza last week, rescuer Nooh Al-Shaghnobi risked his life to aid the wounded despite warnings of another imminent attack.
In a video that has since gone viral on social media, civil defense member Shaghnobi can be seen desperately trying to pull a wounded man out from under a mound of rubble after a strike on a school on Thursday.
As he was working, a fresh evacuation order was issued by the Israeli military, warning of another strike on the same site, a school sheltering displaced people from across the territory.
“The scene was terrifying” as people fled the building, Shaghnobi told AFP, referring to the Dar Al-Arqam school which Gaza’s civil defense said served as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war.
“I became anxious, and the injured person grew even more distressed,” he said.
“I tried to calm him down, telling him, ‘I will stay with you until your last breath. We will die together if we must.’“
Shaghnobi said he dug with his bare hands through the debris to reach the wounded man’s leg which was pinned under concrete.
“He kept calling out: ‘Why did you come back, man? Leave me to die. Get out.’“
Shaghnobi said at one point the pair were the only people left in the building as Israeli reconnaissance drones flew overhead.
“I kept trying to pull him out, but I couldn’t. I said to myself: ‘This is the moment we die.’“
It was then that one of Shaghnobi’s colleagues rushed over, warning that they had just 10 minutes to save anyone still alive before another strike hit.
Together they pulled with all their strength until the man’s leg was freed.
“In that moment, my eyes welled up with tears, my body shaking from exhaustion,” he said.
While initially hesitant, Shaghnobi’s other colleagues arrived to help carry the wounded man to safety.
Gaza’s civil defense agency said at least 31 people, including children, were killed in last Thursday’s strike on the school in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City.
Since the Gaza war began after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in schools and other facilities in a bid to escape the deadly violence.
Most of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once since the war started.
On Wednesday, a strike on a residential block in Gaza City that housed many displaced people killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 60, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency.
The Israeli military said it had targeted a “senior Hamas terrorist” in the attack.
UK MPs back call for Iraq war-style inquiry into Gaza conflict
- Cross-party group of 37 sign letter by Jeremy Corbyn to PM Keir Starmer
LONDON: A group of MPs in the UK have called on the government to launch an Iraq war-style inquiry into Britain’s role in the Gaza conflict, Sky News reported on Wednesday.
The 37 MPs include 10 from the governing Labour Party, who have signed a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer written by Jeremy Corbyn, the party’s former leader.
Corbyn demanded a “comprehensive inquiry with legal power to establish the truth” about the war, which has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
It follows Israel denying entry to, and deporting, two Labour MPs who had traveled there as part of a parliamentary delegation.
Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang intended to visit humanitarian aid projects in the West Bank.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy described Israel’s decision as “unacceptable” and “no way to treat British parliamentarians.”
MPs from the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and Sinn Fein also signed Corbyn’s letter, as did members of the House of Lords.
He said he has consistently pursued answers over Britain’s continued sale of F-35 jet components to Israel, the use of British military bases in the war, and the legal definition of genocide, yet he has been met with “evasion, obstruction and silence.”
The government is “leaving the public in the dark over the ways in which the responsibilities of government have been discharged,” Corbyn added.
He warned that history is at risk of “repeating itself,” drawing parallels to the UK’s decision to invade Iraq based on “flawed intelligence and assessments.”
That assessment was found by the Chilcot report into the Iraq war, published in 2016 following numerous delays.
An inquiry into the UK’s ties to the Gaza war “should establish exactly what decisions have been taken, how these decisions have been made and what consequences they have had,” Corbyn said.
“Any meaningful inquiry would require the full cooperation from government ministers involved in decision-making processes since October 2023,” he added.
“Many people believe the government has taken decisions that have implicated officials in the gravest breaches of international law.
“These charges will not go away until there is a comprehensive, public, independent inquiry with the legal power to establish the truth.”
UAE leads UN resolution on conflict-free diamond trade
- The resolution focuses on breaking the link between illicit rough diamond transactions and armed conflict
DUBAI: The UAE, as chair of the Kimberley Process for 2024, led the adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution addressing the role of diamonds in fueling conflict, WAM reported on Wednesday.
The resolution focuses on breaking the link between illicit rough diamond transactions and armed conflict, supporting conflict prevention efforts.
Under the UAE’s presidency, the Kimberley Process established its first permanent secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana. The resolution also notes the accession of Uzbekistan as the 60th country to join the Kimberley Process and the lifting of the export ban on rough diamonds from the Central African Republic.
Although non-binding, the resolution reinforces global support for a conflict-free diamond trade.
Qatar welcomes Oman’s hosting of US-Iran talks
- The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed hopes that the talks would lead to a sustainable agreement
DUBAI: Qatar welcomed on Tuesday Oman’s hosting of high-level talks between the US and Iran, scheduled for Saturday, Qatar’s state news agency reported.
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed hopes that the talks would lead to a sustainable agreement that improves regional security, stability, and cooperation.
Qatar also acknowledged Oman’s diplomatic efforts to facilitate the discussions and reaffirmed its belief in dialogue as the best solution for resolving international conflicts.
