While Israeli captives say Hamas treated them ‘extremely well’, Palestinian detainees in Israel come back home with broken bodies and souls.
Israeli captives who were released this week say that Hamas treated them ‘extremely well during the past 50 days while they were held hostage.
According to the testimonies collected from several Israelis released by Hamas, almost all of the prisoners say that they were treated “extremely well” and that they were “not subjected to any kind of violence or insult.” In a public statement hours after being released, for example, the 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz said that the Hamas fighters took good care of her and other captives and made sure to provide them all with everything they needed including medication, food and even hygiene.
The Israeli military correspondent for Channel 13, Alon Ben David, also confirmed the news and said on Monday that he had spoken with some of the released captives, all of whom acknowledged that the Hamas fighters “have treated them very well and they even gathered the members of each kibbutz together, which gave the prisoners a greater sense of comfort during the captivity days.”
“They were not subjected to any violence or insult, and Hamas members tried to provide them with food, painkillers, and their regular medications as much as possible, under dangerous and harsh security conditions underground and inside the tunnels.” Ben David said this Monday.
He also noted that the prisoners were even allowed to talk to each other, do their usual activities, and even use YouTube. Another speaker for the same Israeli channel having contact with a number of Israeli released prisoners also said that “I sat with them and heard the exact same story from them.”
No mercy from the other side of the war
While Israeli captives all testifies that they couldn’t have been treated any better by Hamas fighters during their days of captivity, the story for Palestinians held captive in Israel’s prisons is tragically the opposite.
Just to give an example, Muhammad Nezzal, a Palestinian child was one of the many prisoners held by Israel since October 7 who was released this Saturday in line with the prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas. But he had a totally different story to narrate. According to the first words of the 16-year-old Palestinian teenager from Jenin, he and many of other Palestinian captives were exposed the maltreatment at Negev prison.
Nezzal was beaten brutally several times and was released with a broken hand and a broken finger, not to mention the mental trauma he had to go through all the 50 days he was held prisoner. As he also said, the young Palestinian prisoner was a subject of medical neglect as they didn’t cast his broken hand until he was released to the Red Cross. He reports a cellmate being killed by brutal beating and elder prisoners being beaten and forced to sleep on the floor, while his mother asserts the complete loss of communication since his detainment.
“Israeli forces constantly raided the cells and beat prisoners. Some lost consciousness as a result of beatings. There was a prisoner; after losing consciousness due to beatings, they took him out of the cell, and I think maybe he has died, but we couldn’t learn anything about him. Occupation forces attacked us brutally. They beat some prisoners until they lost consciousness, and others cried from the severity of the torture,” Nezzal said, adding that his last month in prison felt like 20 years.
Under the prisoner swap deal that was implemented this Friday, 50 Israelis were released in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children released from Israeli prisons.
