Israeli, 85, explains why she wished peace to Hamas captor

An elderly woman held hostage for 16 days by Hamas terrorists explained that she wished them peace as she was handed to aid workers because ‘they treated us very nicely.’ Chilling footage on Monday evening showed Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, and Nurit Cooper, 79, being handed over to the Red Cross at Gaza’s Rafah crossing by black-clad masked Hamas gunmen.

‘It’s okay, let’s go… it’s okay, let’s go,’ says a Red Cross Worker sent to collect the two women. As she’s about to leave, Yocheved turns to one of the masked gunmen, reaching out her hand and offers a simple blessing to him: ‘Shalom. Shalom’ is the Hebrew word for peace and harmony, and is used by Jewish people to mean both hello and goodbye. The pair shake hands, and bid farewell to each other, as Yocheved and Nurit are led away from the bandana-wearing gunmen. When asked why she shook the Hamas terrorist’s hand at a press conference on Tuesday, held at the Tel Aviv hospital she is currently recovering in, she said: ‘Because they treated us very nicely.’

Her daughter, British citizen Sharone Lifshitz (pictured), said on behalf of her mother: ‘My mum is saying they were very delicate and gentle with them and took care of all their needs. They seemed really prepared, like they had concealed it for a long time. They took care of all the women’s needs, shampoo, conditioner.’ She added that her mum said it wasn’t only women who were well looked-after. ‘One of the men among them was badly injured by a motorbike accident on the way, he was treated by paramedics. They kept the place clean, they were very concerned about them.’

Both Yocheved and Nurit were abducted from their homes in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 massacre, while their husbands remain in Gaza as hostages. Yocheved, known as Yochi, was kidnapped from her home alongside her husband, Oded, 83. The elderly women have since been handed over to the Israel Defense Forces custody and are currently in Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. Hamas said it released the pair for humanitarian reasons, days after freeing an American woman and her teenage daughter.

Yocheved spoke to reporters from Ichilov Hospital with her daughter, British citizen Sharone Lifshitz, 52, on Tuesday. Though much of the press conference was in Hebrew, Sharone answered some questions in English. ‘My mum was saying she was taken on the back of a motorbike, with her legs on one side and her head on another. She was taken through ploughed fields, with men on one side and men behind her. While she was taken, she was hit with sticks until they reached tunnels. There, they walked for a few kilometres on the wet ground.’

Sharone said her mother was taken to Gaza via the notorious underground tunnels after her jewelry and her watch was taken off her. ‘There are a huge network of tunnels underneath, it looked like a spiderweb.’ She added, on behalf of her mother: ‘When they arrived they arrived to a large hall where about 25 hostages were gathered. After two or three hours five of them were taken into a separate room. She said they were very friendly towards them, they took care of them, they were given medicine. They took care of us, we can say that to our credit. they made sure that we could be clean and eat, they gave us pita bread and hard cheese and low fat cream cheese and that was our food for the entire day.’

‘My mum is saying they told them they were Muslims and that they’re not going to hurt them. ‘It is wonderful, my mum is very much hoping that all the people that were with her will come back. And the story is not over until everyone comes back. We were the scapegoats, they had warned us three weeks before but the masses came to our roads and burnt our fields, they sent balloons with fire and they burnt our fields – the IDF didn’t take that seriously. On Saturday morning, everything was quiet and then there was huge shelling on our community. it exploded the huge fence that was there, they opened the gates of the kibbutz and entered on masses, that was very very tough, I have all these images in my mind.’

She said her mother was disappointed with Israel’s lack of preparation for the Hamas attack on October 7. ‘A swarm of people came through the fence, which cost 2.5 billion shekels, and it didn’t help even a little bit. Sharone confirmed the news of her mother’s rescue on Monday night, admitting she ‘could not put into words’ how ‘relieved’ she was. She said: ‘I can confirm that my mother Yochi (Yocheved) Lifshitz was one of two hostages released to the Red Cross this evening. While I cannot put into words the relief that she is now safe, I will remain focused on securing the release of my father and all those – some 200 innocent people – who remain hostages in Gaza. Sharone told Radio 4 on Tuesday: ‘I arrived, my mum is asleep, she was given a pill so I’m yet to have a real conversation with her. ‘

‘My brother’s with her, my mum is okay, the nurses have been having a chat [with her], they said she’s very sharp and she’s very keen to share information to families of other hostages she was with. She seems okay. It’s really hard to know what to hope for, so much is lost. To see my mum again is an incredible thing, to hold her hand, to kiss her face and her cheek. I’m so proud of her, she’s amazing. Just the way she walked off and then came back and said “thank you” was quite incredible to me, I’ve been looking at [the video] and it’s just… it’s so her. I’m really waiting to have a bit of quality time with her. She knows a lot about other [hostages]. There’s still over 200 people there, and we must work towards the release of everybody.’ Sharone said that as happy as she is about her mother’s safe release, she is still worried about her father. ‘My mum doesn’t know where [my father] is,’ she told Radio 4.

‘Both of them are very loving people, family people. The week before, they had over 20 people visiting. They really loved hosting family. My father was very involved in kibbutz politics. He was very involved in the rights of Palestinians, and working towards peace with our neighbours. His whole life was [dedicated to] the idea that we have to find a way to live together. He felt that it was very easy to find a way, and was very disappointed and fought very hard against this idea of occupation, of perpetual war. I hope that he’s there and that he’s being looked after. There was a doctor there, so this brings a lot of comfort to everybody.’ Ms Lifshitz, from London, had spoken to the media earlier on Monday about how she had not heard from either of her parents since Hamas’s ambush more than two weeks’ ago that left 1,400 people dead. She described them as having complex health needs, telling Times Radio that her father had recorded high blood pressure the night before he was captured.

Ms Lifshitz shared her story with MailOnline earlier this month, in the hope to spread awareness and bring her parents home. ‘My father is 83 and my mother is 85. She needs oxygen and he has a lung disease. They cannot survive on their own in this environment’, she said at the time. ‘What kind of person would do this? In my life I just cannot imagine a type of person that could do this. My father is not the enemy. He spent his retirement driving Palestinians from the border to and from the hospital. He is not the enemy. He believes in humanity in all people.’ She issued a chilling plea at the time, saying: ‘This is our moment of reckoning. It’s bigger than the Yom Kippur War, it’s bigger than 9/11. This is what Israel was founded for, so we weren’t running or hiding, or shot in our own homes and chased to our deaths. But it is happening.’

In another clip shared of their release, Yocheved can be seen crawling out the back of a white truck, before walking towards an ambulance with the help of two officials. Meanwhile Nurit is lying down and wheeled in an ambulance stretcher. Both women appear to be without obvious physical injuries as they are checked and monitored by ICRC staff wearing vests bearing the red cross. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said the department welcomed the release of two further hostages, three days after an American woman and her teenage daughter were let go. A spokeswoman said: ‘Our thoughts remain with the families of loved ones still being held captive, as they endure unimaginable anguish and worry at this time. We will continue to work tirelessly with Qatar, Israel and others to ensure all hostages come home safely.’

Qatar is seen as a key mediator in the Middle East conflict, with Doha using its ties to Hamas – a number of figures from the Gaza-ruling group’s political wing are said to live in the country – to negotiate for the release of about 220 hostages taken during the deadly assault on Israel more than two weeks ago. Further pleas for Hamas to give up its hostages are expected to be made on Tuesday during a press conference with affected families at the Israeli Embassy in London. It comes as Hamas is reportedly planning to release 50 hostages with dual citizenship from the Gaza Strip, sources in Gaza told Israeli media on Monday. The Red Cross has reportedly been dispatched to receive the captives who were kidnapped during the Islamist terror attack on Israel on October 7. Qatar has taken a central role in mediating the handover which is set to take place in Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to Israel TV channel i24.

Israel has refrained from bombarding the area in order to facilitate the transfer, according to the sources in the Strip. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari did not deny the report, according to The Times of Israel. An earlier report by the New York Times said that the Israeli government believe Hamas may release about 50 hostages who are dual citizens – but that a ground invasion would hinder their release. Hamas, Qatar, Egypt, and Israel have been in talks in recent days over a proposal to release a larger group in return for a steady flow of humanitarian aid, including fuel, three officials familiar with the talks said. But Israeli officials have also reportedly said they want all hostages released before permitting the delivery of fuel. Israeli officials have also told negotiators they believe Hamas and other militant groups could divert fuel for military purposes. The negotiations have reached an advanced stage, but Israel hasn’t given approval for fuel to be delivered to Gaza via Egypt, according to the three officials.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader claimed that the civilian hostages in Gaza will be freed if Israel meets the right conditions. Khaled Meshaal, one of the key negotiators of the terrorist organisation, has said that over 200 hostages held by the group could be released if Israel reduces the intensity of the bombing in Gaza. ‘Let them stop this aggression and you will find the mediators like Qatar and Egypt and some Arab countries and others will find a way to have them released and we’ll send them to their homes,’ he told Sky News. He said hostage releases cannot happen while Israel’s air offensive remains so intense. ‘We want to stop the random bombardments, the total destruction, the genocide so that the al Qassam soldiers can take them from their places and hand them to the Red Cross or whoever. We need the right conditions to allow them to be released.’ Meshaal repeated the claim that 22 hostages have died in Israeli airstrikes since being taken.

Hamas will not say which countries they are from but says many of the dead are Israelis. He would also not be drawn on whether Hamas will stop hostage negotiations entirely if Israel presses ahead with a ground invasion of Gaza. Khaled Meshaal is a powerful figure within Hamas, revered as a living martyr after surviving an Israeli attempt to assassinate him almost three decades ago. It comes after an Illinois teenager released on Friday by Hamas after 13 days in captivity is ‘doing very well,’ her father said, with footage showing the dramatic moment she and her mother were handed over to the Red Cross. Natalie Shoshana Raanan, 17, and her mother Judith Tai Raanan, 59, arrived back in Israel late on Friday, the Israeli government confirmed, having left Gaza via an Egyptian-controlled crossing. The Raanans walked out of Gaza without obvious visible physical injuries, getting out of a car and then being surrounded by ICRC staff wearing vests bearing the red cross. The pair then got into a Red Cross vehicle and drove away.

They are receiving medical treatment, the governor of Illinois said, without providing details of their condition. The deal to free the pair was brokered by Qatar. Her brother, Ben, joked that he was ‘annoyed’ because she still looked ‘like a supermodel’, despite her ordeal. ‘She’s doing good. She’s doing very good,’ said Uri Raanan, 71, who lives in the Chicago suburbs, adding that they did not discuss where she was held or her conditions in captivity. ‘She did not tell me anything. But she told me they treat her nice, and she was doing very good. I’m going to hug her and kiss her, and it’s going to be the best day of my life.’ Knowing Natalie may be able to celebrate her 18th birthday next week at home with family and friends feels ‘wonderful. The best news,’ Uri Raanan said. He said he believes Natalie and Judith to be in transit to Tel Aviv to reunite with relatives, and that both will be back in the U.S. early this week.

The father said he first learnt of the possible release through Israeli television, and then received a call from the IDF. He described the last 13 days as ‘the worst situation,’ adding that he had been kept in the dark by their captors. Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State, said Hamas is still feared to be holding 10 Americans hostage. The Secretary of State revealed the number still missing during a press conference in which he announced the release of Judith and Natalie Raanan. Blinken said he had no further information to offer on the ‘status or condition’ of the Americans still believed to be in Hamas custody following the October 7 terror attacks. He also refused to comment further on how the Raanans are doing after being handed over. Israel responded to the Hamas massacre and hostage crisis by pounding Gaza with air strikes, killing more than 4,000 people according to Hamas, and has said it will act to free the hostages while wiping out the terror group.

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