Photo by
Yossi Zeliger/TPS-IL on 25 June, 2023
Israeli Hospitals On Standby to Receive Hostages as Experts Say to Respect Families’ Privacy
Jerusalem, 15 January, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Israel’s healthcare system is preparing to receive hostages expected to return from Gaza as part of a widely expected ceasefire deal.
In recent months, dedicated medical teams have undergone simulations to rehearse the reception of hostages.
“We’ve been ready for this for a year and a half,” a source at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan told The Press Service of Israel.
Other hospitals on standby include Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital, the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center, the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, Soroka Hospital in Beer-Sheva and the Shamir Medical Center in Be’er Yaakov.
In December, a Health Ministry report detailing severe physical and psychological abuse suffered by hostages released during a November 2023 temporary ceasefire. The report — the first comprehensive account of hostages’ experiences — found that the captives, including children, were subjected to extreme conditions, including sexual assaults, prolonged periods in darkness, physical beatings, and starvation. Many were bound hand and foot and deprived of adequate food and water. Several were burned or branded with heated metal.
Medical care was either withheld or administered without pain relief, resulting in excruciating suffering during procedures, including surgeries, the report found. Hostages were also denied basic hygiene and often forced to soil themselves due to prolonged waits for toilet access.
“The abductees are dealing with a complex trauma that includes difficult experiences of isolation, fear, and loss of control. In addition, they need to readjust to life in society, renew ties with family and friends, and deal with difficult memories that may emerge,” said Nurit Tamsut, director of Assuta’s Social Work Department.
“We understand that with the returnees returning after 466 days, this is a very different experience from those who returned after 55 days.”
She stressed that privacy and giving the returnees a feeling of control over their lives is paramount.
“Public discourse affects the abductees and their families. It is important to avoid pressuring them to reveal their stories and give them time to recover at their own pace. We must remember that these are private individuals, not just national symbols,” Tamsut said.
In November 2023, a spokesperson for the Ichilov Hospital resigned for arranging a controversial press conference for 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz. That prompted one mental health expert to tell The Press Service of Israel that the public should beware of media interviews with the returnees.
Under the terms of the emerging ceasefire, it is expected that the first 33 hostages to be released will be humanitarian cases — women, children, elderly and sick. Palestinians from northern Gaza who fled to southern areas of the Strip will be allowed to return to their homes. Israeli forces will not withdraw from the Strip until all the hostages are freed.
Opponents of the agreement are against any deal that does not bring home all the hostages at once.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 95 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
