Reporter Jin = Two Israelis kidnapped by the Palestinian armed faction Hamas were released safely on the 23rd (local time), and one of them is a human rights activist and peace activist who has devoted his life to actively providing medical support for Palestinian residents in the Gaza Strip. His grandson said it was.
According to Reuters, Hamas released two elderly female Israeli hostages that it had kidnapped. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced that the freed hostages were Nurit Cooper (79) and Yochev Lifshitz (85).
The two husbands are still detained by Hamas.
Lifschitz’s grandson, Daniel, the older of them, told Reuters before their release was confirmed, saying of the couple, “They were lifelong human rights activists and peace activists.”
He continued, “(They) took sick Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip for more than 10 years to Israeli hospitals through the Erez border checkpoint (Israel) and allowed them to receive treatment for diseases, cancer, etc.”
Lifschitz’s daughter, Sharon, who lives in London, England, said, “I can’t express in words my relief that my mother is safe, but I will continue to focus on freeing my father and the 200 other innocent people who remain hostage in Gaza.”
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the two women were kidnapped along with their husbands from Nir Oz, a kibbutz (collective farm) located in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip. On this day, they passed through the Rafah checkpoint connected to Egypt and moved to a medical facility in Israel.
Hamas announced the release on this day, saying, “We decided to release (the hostages) due to their poor health as well as humanitarian reasons.”
This release is the second after an American mother and daughter were released as the first kidnapped people on the 20th.
On this day, Israel announced that a total of 222 people had been captured by Hamas in southern kibbutzim and military bases since the start of the war. Of these, it is believed that at least 10 are American hostages.
The Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip’s health ministry claims that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 5,078 Palestinians, including 2,055 children, over two weeks.
Source: Donga
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