Now released, an Israeli hostage describes the “hell” of a horrific Hamas attack

Her 83-year-old husband, Oded, remains a hostage in Gaza.

Lifshitz, a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, was among more than 200 Israelis and foreigners captured after heavily armed Hamas militants breached Israel’s multibillion-dollar border fence and spread across southern Israel, sweeping through nearly two dozen communities, military bases and the desert. Rave. More than 1,400 people died in the mass killings that followed, which continued throughout the day.

The Israeli military launched a devastating war on Gaza in an attempt to crush Hamas and its air strikes on Gaza after the October 7 attack that killed more than 5,000 people, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry. She said Lifshitz’s kidnappers pushed her onto a motorcycle, took off her watch and jewelry, and beat her with sticks, bruising her ribs and making it difficult to breathe.

Once in Gaza, she walked several kilometers to a network of tunnels that she described as “similar to a spider’s web.” She arrived at a large room where 25 people were being taken, but were later separated into a smaller group with four others.

“The people assigned to guard it told us that they are people who believe in the Qur’an and will not harm us.”

Lifshitz said the prisoners are being treated well and receiving medical care, including medication. She said the guards kept the place clean. She said the hostages were given one meal a day of cheese, cucumber and pita, adding that her captors were eating the same thing.

Lifshitz and her husband were peace activists who regularly transported Palestinian patients from Gaza for medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. But in captivity, the hostages told their captors: “We don’t want to talk about politics.”

Lifshitz and Cooper were the second pair of hostages to be released. On Friday, Hamas released two American-Israeli women from Evanston, Illinois. The Israeli government said that the safe return of all hostages was the top priority.

Lifshitz said Israel ignored warnings that something was afoot before the attack.

“We were made a scapegoat for the government,” she added. “they [Hamas] They warned us three weeks ago to teach us a lesson. A large crowd reached the road. They burned the fields. “They sent incendiary balloons to burn the fields, and the army did not take it seriously.”