Israel continued to prepare for a ground offensive in Gaza this week as the ongoing war with Hamas entered its third week. Officials insist that an attack would not be delayed by the presence of captives detained in the region. The assertion came even as Hamas released two elderly Israeli women from among hundreds of hostages captured on October 7.
The militant group had released an American woman and her teenage daughter last week – the first two people from roughly 220 people that had been captured.
“But that cannot hinder our actions including the ground offensive, if we decide on it…Hamas wants us to deal with the captives and wants the military to not go in to eliminate their infrastructure. That will not happen,” energy minister Israel Katz told German tabloid newspaper Bild.
The Israeli lawmaker however insisted that all efforts would be made to bring the hostages home. The Hamas hostages include an unconfirmed number of foreigners and dual citizens and has since sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity in Israel.
Footage aired on Egyptian TV showed two elderly hostages – 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper – being taken out of Gaza at the Rafah crossing before they were put into ambulances. Their husbands however remain in captivity.
Hamas also released a video on Monday showing the handover with militants giving drinks and snacks to the dazed but composed women, and holding their hands as they are walked to Red Cross officials. Just before the video ends, Lifshitz reaches back to shake one militant’s hand.
Another unverified clip – this time from Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet – also came to the fore this week showing Hamas prisoners. While most were dressed in clean prison uniforms, one could be seen sporting a bloody t-shirt and at least one wincing in pain — sitting handcuffed in drab offices talking about the October 7 attack. The men said they were under orders to kill young men, and kidnap women, children and the elderly, and that they’d been promised financial rewards.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Updated: 24 Oct 2023, 03:30 PM IST