Two elderly hostages, now free from the grip of Hamas, recounted the moments they thought might never come.
One of the released hostages said she was kidnapped on a motorbike and taken to Gaza.
Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, is likening her time with the group to going “through hell.”
“She’s really the first person that has been with other people there and I think she’s very aware that she can pass on information,” said Sharone LIfshitz, the daughter of released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz.
“Their medical condition is OK, they’re talking,” said Deputy Director General Nursing and Head Nurse of Ichilov Hospital, Eti Uziel. “At first, we immediately brought them to their family members. It was a very, very emotional meeting.”
Her 83-year-old husband remains a hostage.
Meanwhile in Gaza, people frantically search for survivors in buildings that have been bombed to ruins.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health has reported that more than 700 people have been killed in a bloody 24-hour period, and Gaza is without much-needed fuel, which is being withheld in humanitarian aid deliveries.
Gaza’s hospitals are facing the possibility of mass casualty situations.
“Without electricity, you know, this hospital will be just a mass grave,” said Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor working at Shifa Hospital.
As attacks escalate, the Israeli military says it’s now waiting for a green light on a ground invasion.
“Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties but we will do every effort to avoid them and to fight this war as speedily and as rapidly as we can,” said Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. “But it could be a long war.”
“To any state or non-state actor that is considering opening another front in this conflict against Israel, or who may target Israel’s partners, including the United States — don’t,” said U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. “Don’t throw fuel on the fire.”