zNeglect, torture and humiliation: The Ministry of Health has recently completed work on a draft special report that includes hard-hitting testimonies from the hostages who were released in the previous deal or rescued from Hamas captivity in Gaza. Once the work on the report is complete, it will be transferred to the Justice Ministry and presented to the United Nations committee that deals with torture.

“It contains materials that tell the story of those who returned from captivity over the past year, some in the major return operation in the last week of November 2023, and some in other cases of rescue,” a senior official at the Health Ministry said of the report. The Health Ministry was careful to word the information provided in the report in a way that would prevent identification of the freed hostage and there is no mention of ages or family composition.
The senior official at the Health Ministry added that the report “includes information that the returning hostages did not share in the first weeks after returning home. As time passed, they allowed themselves to share more. It describes many aspects of neglect, torture, humiliation, and physical and mental abuse.”
Calling for the release of the hostages at Hostages Square in Tel Avivi (Photo: Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

According to the draft, some of the hostages experienced a very large weight loss, and they experienced starvation and malnutrition. In adults, this was reflected in a loss of 8 to 15 kilograms, and in children there was an average loss of 10% of their pre-captivity weight, in some cases a loss of 18% of their weight. The report noted that this loss has significant consequences, such as “muscle breakdown and a weakened immune system. As a result of appalling hygiene, and unclean water, hostages suffered from stomach pains and diarrhea during their time in captivity. All of this has serious psychological consequences, certainly when it comes to children.”

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