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Doctor Treating 4 Rescued Israeli Hostages Says They Endured ‘A Lot Of Abuse, Almost Every Day’
The four recently rescued Israeli hostages embracing loved ones, Ramat Gan, June 8, 2024. Photo: Israeli Army/Handout via Reuters
The doctor treating the four Israeli hostages who were rescued from Gaza over the weekend said they were abused in captivity “nearly every day.”
Dr. Itai Pessach, who works for Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv and is overseeing the treatment of the four rescued hostages, told CNN their time in captivity “left a significant mark on their health” despite looking normal externally.
“There have been periods where they got almost no food whatsoever,” he said. “They had no protein, so their muscles are extremely wasted, there is damage to some other systems because of that.”
According to initial assessments by Israel’s Health Ministry, the average hostage who was released during November’s temporary ceasefire and hostage deal lost between 17 and 33 pounds in just seven weeks.
“It was a harsh, harsh, experience, with a lot of abuse, almost every day,” Pessach added. ”Every hour, both physical, mental, and other types, and that is something that is beyond comprehension.”
This, combined with “medical neglect, being limited to space, not seeing the sun, and all of the other things, have [a] significant effect on health,” he said.
Further explaining the mental health aspect of being held hostage for such a long time, Pessach explained, “As time passes, hope of being released kind of decreases and you start wondering if this would ever end … losing that faith, I think, is where you get to the breaking point.”
Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, and Andrey Kozlov were rescued from Hamas captivity on Saturday in a complex and dangerous mission taken on by the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) elite “Yamam” National Counter-Terrorism Unit. It specializes in hostage rescue missions and raids against enemy combatants in civilian areas.
In the raid, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora was killed by Hamas terrorists and other Palestinians in the area after they opened fire on the IDF while trying to rescue the hostages. The mission was renamed “Operation Arnon” in honor of his sacrifice. The IDF called Zamora “a hero of Israel, a lover of the land and a protector.”
Previously released hostages have later detailed the abuse they faced while in Hamas’ hands.
In april, former hostages held by Hamas in Gaza recounted harrowing tales of sexual harassment and abuse in an emotional hearing at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
“As hard as it is to say, every girl there goes through sexual harassment one way or another,” said Mia Regev, who was freed in November after 50 days in captivity. Fighting back tears, she urged lawmakers to take action, saying, “Your job is to bring them back home.”
Days earlier, Amit Soussana, 40, from Kfar Aza, who was kidnapped on Oct. 7 and released as a part of the temporary ceasefire agreement, told the New York Times that she was sexually assaulted while a hostage.
She said one of her captors forced her to perform a “sexual act on him” while being held at gunpoint.
“He sat me on the edge of the bath. And I closed my legs. And I resisted. And he kept punching me and put his gun in my face,” Soussana recounted. “Then he dragged me to the bedroom.”
A family member of 12-year-old freed hostage Eitan Yahalom detailed the abuse he faced during his 52 days being held by Hamas.
“Whenever a child hostage cried, the terrorists would threaten them with rifles to silence them,” the family member said. “Perhaps I was naïve, but I wanted to hope that they were treating him well. I was wrong. They are monsters.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists abducted over 250 people during their Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. There are currently over 100 hostages still in Gaza.
The post Doctor Treating 4 Rescued Israeli Hostages Says They Endured ‘A Lot Of Abuse, Almost Every Day’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.