Colonel Dr. Avi Banov, who serves as the deputy head of the IDF’s medical corps, provided information to Reuters today regarding the experiences of hostages recently released as part of last week’s ceasefire agreement.
Several of these hostages had endured captivity in dimly lit underground tunnels for as long as eight months.
“Some of them told us that they’ve been in the past few months, that they’ve been through the entire time, in tunnels, underground,” Banov stated. “Some of them were alone through the entire time they were there. Those who said they were together were in better shape.”
According to Banov, hostages who were not kept in solitary confinement were granted opportunities to shower, change into clean clothing, and were even provided with better-quality food than those who were held in isolation.
In the days preceding their release, the conditions for the hostages seemed to improve as Hamas tried to create a false impression that they had been well cared for during the entirety of their 15-month captivity. Nonetheless, many of the hostages bore visible injuries that had gone untreated since the October 7 massacre, as well as signs of “mild starvation.”
{Matzav.com Israel}
