Released hostage, 85, says she 'went through hell' in Gaza
Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, said she had been "through hell" in Gaza during a press conference where she recounted the ordeal, ITV News Correspondent John Ray reports
Two elderly women hostages have been released by Hamas and are being monitored in a Tel Aviv hospital following an emotional reunion with their families.
Speaking to reporters, Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, said she had been "through hell" while being held hostage in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it struck over 400 'terrorist' targets in Gaza across the past 24 hours, including Hamas tunnels and a mosque.
French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Israel this morning for talks with Israeli leaders, as the EU calls for a ceasefire.
At least 12 British nationals have been killed, a further five are missing.
The death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 5,795, while more than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, according to respective officials.
One of two freed elderly hostages released by Hamas on Monday has told reporters she "went through hell" in Gaza.
Yocheved Lifschitz, 85, has spoken for the first time since her ordeal, explaining the events of October 7 when she was taken from her home in the kibbutz of Nir Oz.
"She was taken through fields... she was beaten with sticks," her daughter, Sharone Lifschitz, translated from Hebrew for media at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Hamas is known to operate in a labyrinth of tunnels running under Gaza, but the wider world has rarely seen any insight into the operation.
Mrs Lifschitz described that "there is a huge network of tunnels underneath, that looks like a spiderweb."
She explained that when they arrived they were put in a "large hole in which 25 hostages were gathered" but after a few hours, five of the captives were taken into another room.
"They [Hamas] were very friendly towards them [the hostages] and that they took care of them, they were given medicine," her daughter translated.
Mrs Lifschitz described one incident of a man who was injured badly from a motorbike accident on the way to Gaza, but was treated by a paramedic.
"The people were friendly, they kept the place very clean, they were very concerned about them," added daughter Sharone. "She's telling us about sharing food with the people [Hamas] when she first arrived, they told them they're Muslims and they're not going to hurt them."
Mrs Lifschitz was released on Monday alongside fellow Israeli citizen Nurit Cooper, 79.
In a video published by Hamas from the handover, Mrs Lifschitz shook the hand of a Hamas gunman and said 'shalom' before being released.
Questioned on the gesture by media, her daughter said: "My mum is saying that they treated them kindly."
ITV News' International Affairs Editor Rageh Omaar explains why the release of the two hostages is so significant in the wider context of the continuing conflict
The pair were greeted by their loved ones in the early hours of Tuesday at Ichilov hospital after spending two weeks in captivity.
Mrs Cooper and Mrs Lifschitz have been monitored since their arrival back in Israel, with the hospital's head nurse, Eti Uziel, saying: "Their medical condition is OK. They’re talking. Right now for them and for the family members, it is a very, very emotional situation and we are happy that they are here with us.”
On Monday, Hamas shared a video showing the handover before publishing a statement citing "humanitarian reasons and poor health conditions" as the motive for the release.
The womens' husbands, aged 83 and 84, were also taken but have not yet been freed.
Mrs Lifschitz's daughter, Sharone, said her mother "wants to tell everybody what she knows" after she was returned to Israel.
“The nurses said she's very sharp and very communicative. And she wants to tell everybody what she knows," she told CNN soon after being reunited with her mother in Tel Aviv.
In a previous statement, Sharone said her attention will now be on returning her father to safety.
Hamas apparently received nothing in exchange for the release of the two hostages, who were freed days after an American woman and her teenage daughter were also handed over.
Footage from Gaza captured the moment hundreds of leaflets drop from the sky on Tuesday, urging residents to share information on the remaining hostages' whereabouts.
In exchange, the military promised a financial reward and protection for the informant’s home.
Hamas is allegedly holding an estimated 220 people, including an unconfirmed number of foreigners and dual citizens.
Is Israel still striking Gaza?
In a statement posted to X, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it struck more than 400 'terrorist' targets in Gaza across the past 24 hours.
The Hamas-run ministry of health said more than 700 people have been killed across the same period.
IDF says it hit Hamas gunmen setting up to fire rockets toward Israel, a tunnel shaft allowing Hamas to infiltrate Israel through the sea and command centres used by operatives and staging armaments in mosques.
The IDF added it will "continue operating in order to ensure the safety of innocent civilians".
The Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he told the Israeli government that the preservation of civilian life must be a priority, ITV News' Carl Dinnen has the latest
The death toll in Gaza reportedly rose rapidly, as Israel ramped up the airstrike campaign, in what it said was preparation for an eventual ground assault.
An estimated 5,795 people have been killed in the Israel bombardment of Gaza and 18,000 more injured in just over two weeks, according to Palestinian health officials. Around 1,500 remain missing under the rubble.
300 children have been killed in Gaza in the last 24 hours - equating to one child killed every 4.5 minutes, Save the Children have said.
Jason Lee, Save the Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said: "Children are particularly vulnerable to the impact of explosive weapons - their bodies are thrown harder and further by the blasts. Their bones bend more, increasing the chances of long-term deformities with little chance of recovery. They have less blood to lose."
“With the death toll climbing, children are at risk and terrified. Children have been killed and injured in every major escalation, not to mention suffering from serious longer term mental health impacts – they’ve never emerged unscathed. "
Hamas’s attack in southern Israel killed at least 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials.
What is the role of Iran in the Gaza conflict?
Iran's influence in Middle East tensions cannot be overstated. It is a backer of Hamas - though it denies direct involvement in the October 7 attack - as well as terror group Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon and is threatening Israel from the north.
On Sunday, the UK was urged by the US to proscribe the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organisation, citing Tehran’s “complicity” in the Hamas attacks after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has applauded them.
Iran has also threatened “preemptive” action against Israel if it continues its offensive.
Matthew Miller, the US State Department’s official spokesman, said: “We absolutely think that other countries should designate the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.
“It’s a position that we’ve made clear a number of times. They finance terrorist activities, they have around the world for some time, and we think that other countries should take that step of designating them.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called on UN Security Council member states to use their leverage to stop the Israel-Gaza conflict from expanding, urging them in particular to warn Iran that any involvement would be met with consequences.
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the government is "well aware of Iran's influence" over Hamas but would not commit to proscribing the IRGC.
He said the IRGC is sanctioned in its entirety but warned the disadvantage of proscribing it would be there could be no diplomatic relations with Iran.
"We always take these issues very seriously, any decision will be made across government but we do not speculate on future sanctions or proscriptions," he added.
How are world leaders responding?
French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Israel this morning for talks with Israeli leaders.
In a press conference alongside Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he expressed his continued solidarity with Israel but urged the fight must not be "without rules".
Macron added any peace “cannot be durable” without restarting a “decisive” political process with Palestinians. But he insisted: “Hamas does not (represent) the Palestinian cause.”
Meanwhile Elisabeth Borne, the French prime minister, called for a “humanitarian truce” for more aid to enter Gaza, which "may lead to a ceasefire."
At the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday, secretary general Antonio Guterres said that the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel "did not happen in a vacuum”.
He said: "The Palestinian people been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their lands steadily devolved by settlements and plagued by violence. Their economy stifled. Their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing."
In response, Israel's ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan has called on Mr Guterres to resign.
Mr Erdan wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people... (He) is not fit to lead the UN."
Both US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have outwardly supported Israel's right to defend itself.
“It is difficult to tell Israel to have a ceasefire when it is still facing rocket fire on an almost daily basis, and when its citizens are still being held hostage and it has suffered an appalling terrorist attack where it has a right to defend itself,” Mr Sunak told the House of Commons.
As it stands, the British government has identified at least 12 British nationals who have been killed, with a further five said to be missing.
Has Gaza run out of supplies?
A third convoy of 20 aid lorries carrying water, food and medicine entered from Egypt on Monday, bringing the total to an estimated 54.
But concerns are mounting over depleting fuel supplies, as Hamas warned all hospitals are running out of fuel to power generators.
A British-Palestinian doctor working at Gaza’s largest hospital has warned it will become a “mass grave” if it runs out of fuel.
“The real question is, is there anything left of a hospital when there’s no electricity? And my answer is no," Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah told CNN.
"Effectively, Shifa Hospital will become a mass grave if it runs out of electricity,” adding there are currently 150 patients on ventilators with doctors unable to run operating theatres and anesthetic machines due to the shortages.
The hospital currently has "around 1,700 wounded patients, three times its capacity," he said.
With longer and more frequent power cuts, Abu-Sittah said Shifa Hospital “effectively... will cease to exist as a hospital.”
The UN humanitarian agency said the first convoy carried about 4% of an average day’s imports before the conflict and “a fraction of what is needed after 13 days of complete siege."
However, the Israeli military said the humanitarian situation was “under control,” even as the UN called for 100 trucks a day to enter.
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