Irregular meals, benches as beds. As freed hostages return to Israel, details of captivity emerge
Israel after seven weeks of Hamas captivity, information about the conditions of their confinement has emerged.
The 58 hostages freed under a cease-fire deal over the past three days have largely stayed out of the public eye, with most still in hospitals.
Nearly two months after Hamas militants dragged them into Gaza during a bloody cross-border attack on Israel that also killed 1,200 people, most freed hostages appear to be in stable physical condition.
Information about the conditions of their captivity has been tightly controlled, but family members of the released hostages have begun to share details about their loved ones' experiences.
Merav Raviv, whose three relatives were released by Hamas on Friday, said they had been fed irregularly and had eaten mainly rice and bread. She said her cousin and aunt, Keren and Ruth Munder, had each lost around 7 kilograms (15 pounds) in just 50 days.
Raviv said she'd heard from her freed family members that they had slept on rows of chairs pushed together in a room that looked like a reception area. They said they sometimes had to wait hours before going to the bathroom.
Adva Adar, the grandchild of 85-year-old released hostage Yaffa Adar, said her grandmother had also lost weight.
«She counted the days of her captivity,» Adar said.
«She came back and she said, 'I know that I've been there for 50 days.'»
Adar said that her grandmother was taken captive convinced that her family members were dead, only to emerge to the news that they had survived. Still, her release was bittersweet: She also found out that her house had been ravaged by militants.
