2023-11-27 20:58:11
Most of the 58 people released so far are still in the hospital and are shielded from the public – in order to have time for the family and to gradually reacquaint themselves with the changed reality. Many of them only found out regarding the full extent of the Hamas attack when they returned from being held hostage for around 50 days: Ruti Munder (78), her 55-year-old daughter Keren and her grandson Ohad (9) knew until they returned not that Keren’s brother was murdered by Hamas on October 7th and his house on Kibbutz Nir Os was completely destroyed. The three also assumed that Ruti’s husband Avraham had been murdered. But Avraham Munder, who walks with a cane and has poor eyesight, was kidnapped by another group of terrorists and is still being held hostage.
The Munder family had lived in Nir Os for almost 60 years. Keren and her murdered 50-year-old brother Roi grew up there. “We had to tell Aunt Ruti that she cannot return to Nir Os. It will take at least two years to rebuild it,” said Raviv. Ohad had his ninth birthday while he was being held hostage.
“She didn’t know anything.”
According to her cousin Merav Raviv, Keren Munder said she expected the liberation to take much longer. She therefore knew nothing regarding the ground offensive or regarding the mass movement in Israel that is mobilizing around the world for the release of the hostages. “They didn’t know anything. They didn’t know they were famous,” said Raviv. According to Israeli media reports, other hostages were able to partially hear the radio.
AP/IDF Ohad Munder was nine years old while being held hostage
Sleeping on plastic armchairs
The Munders and other returnees told their relatives regarding the conditions. In order not to endanger the many hostages still in Gaza, their relatives are not allowed to share any details relevant to their safety in public. But they apparently slept on rows of plastic chairs in a room that looked like a waiting area. And they often had to wait hours to go to the toilet.
Malnourished and poor health
According to doctors at Wolfson Hospital, where many of the freed people receive initial care, the majority of the released hostages suffer from malnutrition and have poor overall health. “The main food in prison was rice, hummus and flatbread,” said the doctor in charge, Doron Menachemi. “Some of them have chronic illnesses that require regular drug treatment, which they have not received.” But they have recovered quickly and their lives are no longer in danger, Menachemi said, according to the Walla news website.
Lost 20 kilos
The deputy head of the hospital, Amir Nutman, warned that the lives of the hostages still held in Gaza might be in danger without the necessary medication and nutrition. In addition to rice, hummus and flat cakes, some also received eggs. One of the freed people said that she had cooked for her group herself. Some lost a lot of weight, one even lost 20 kilos, another twelve kilos. Several of those who returned have already been released from the two hospitals. They are with their family or in hotels – for example at the Dead Sea and in Eilat, where the survivors of October 7th are currently staying.
AP/IDF Ruth Munder and her daughter Keren behind her on their return to Israel
Geisel managed to temporarily escape
25-year-old Roni Kriboi, who was kidnapped by Hamas at the dance festival, told his family following his release that he had managed to escape in Gaza. According to his aunt Ilana Magid, he escaped when the building where he was being held was hit by Israeli airstrikes. Kriboi managed to survive in Gaza for four days, but was then caught by Palestinians and handed over to Hamas, Magid told public radio station Kan. Kriboi is the only man to be released so far. He also has a Russian passport, and Hamas apparently wanted to show gratitude to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
One of those released, 72-year-old Adina Moshe from Kibbutz Nir Os, told her family that her group was led out of a tunnel where they were being held before being handed over. They feared they would be executed. Before she got into the Red Cross vehicle, she asked a Hamas fighter to release another woman whose health was worse instead of her. Health Minister Uriel Boso, who visited Moshe at the weekend, praised it as an “expression of heroism” shown by many of those attacked by Hamas.
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