Freed hostages speak, and the truth is coming out.

[Beastly Boy]

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, who was released last month before the cease-fire, said she and other captors slept on mattresses on the floors of the tunnels.

“I went through hell," Lifshitz told reporters at a hospital in Tel Aviv the day after her release.

Lifshitz said she was beaten while her Hamas captors abducted her on the back of a motorcycle. She said she was then taken through a "spider web" of subterranean tunnels − passages where Hamas hides its fighters and weapons.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/11/27/hamas-releases-hostages-what-captivity-was-like/71716232007/

One of the hostages, recently released from Gaza, revealed on Wednesday that he was held for nearly 50 days in an attic by a teacher from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The story was publicized on X by Channel 13 journalist Almog Boker.

The hostage also said that the teacher who held him captive was a father of 10 children. He had barely been provided food or medical attention, and was locked away by the teacher, he said.

Furthermore, Boker's report also cites another hostage saying that he was held hostage by a Gazan doctor as he was treating children patients.
The UNRWA school in Nablus

A report from the beginning of the month saw a UNRWA-run school in Nablus in the West Bank posting a video to its official Facebook page in which a young student called for the victory of Hamas’s “jihad warriors” in Gaza.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-775777

Nurit Cooper, 79, was held in the warren of tunnels beneath Gaza with four older Israelis in the early days of the war. They were kept in a small room with little light or ventilation, according to Rotem Cooper, her son.

Ms. Cooper’s shoulder was broken “as part of the brutality of the kidnapping,” Mr. Cooper said. The group of hostages, all in their 70s and 80s, he added, struggled to walk in the dark, sandy tunnels.

https://dnyuz.com/2023/11/30/hostages-freed-from-gaza-recount-violence-hunger-and-fear/

Jewish hostages were held in tougher conditions than Thai hostages and were beaten with electric cables, according to a report on N12 on Wednesday evening. According to the report, Thai hostages released by Hamas in recent days told Israeli security personnel: “Occasionally, we were put in captivity with the Israelis, they were constantly guarded. [Hamas] had a tougher attitude towards the Jews, they were beaten with electric cables.”
One of them added, according to the report, “We ate one pita a day, and a can of tuna was divided among four people.”

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-775760

Adar and Keren Munder, 54, returned much thinner than before, relatives said. “They were eating, but not regularly and not all of the time,” said Merav Mor Raviv, Munder’s cousin. Munder and her mother, Ruth, 78, had lost between 13 and 17 pounds, Raviv said.

They slept on rows of three chairs tied together, like benches in a waiting room

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/thin-rations-heavy-bombing-israel-s-hostages-start-sharing-their-stories/ar-AA1kCT73

This is not the worst of it. They are holding back for fear of harming the remaining hostages.

[The Magistrate]

1. Involvement Of United Nations Employees Is Damned Serious, Sir

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Yes, sir, it is!

And if it is accurate, if true, then there needs to be a very serious reckoning. Frankly, I don't doubt it is true. History and all.

[tritsofme]

4. It is also far from surprising.

[Think. Again.]

7. Is it?....

....I would have thought being a member of a terrorist organization would limit the opportunities to work for the UN.

[tritsofme]

12. UNRWA is often just another arm of Hamas, this isn't new.

[Think. Again.]

14. Is UNRWA a sector of the UN or not?

[tritsofme]

18. Of course it is. Again, them being involved with Hamas is among the least surprising things about all this.

[Think. Again.]

19. That's a heckuva thought.

[tritsofme]

21. Yes, the corruption is staggering.

[Think. Again.]

28. Is that a known fact?...

...I mean, has there been any actual, credible incidents or is this just an extension of the rightwing UN bashing (didn't some repub candidate say they wanted to job UN headquaters down to w floors a while back?).

Implying that the United Nations is in cahoots with a terrorist organization is some serious stuff.

[Arazi]

44. Yes. This is a long term grievance with the UN

This article is from 2014 but David Bosco is a historian and UN “specialist” who’s provided a lot of information on the UN’s lack of impartiality over many years, particularly in conflict zones. Israelis and others believe UNRWA has only grown closer with Hamas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-gaza-and-other-war-zones-how-neutral-is-the-united-nations/2014/08/01/1013a4d4-18c4-11e4-85b6-c1451e622637_story.html

Snip

The broader Israeli critique is that UNRWA nurses Palestinian grievances and has acquiesced to the militarization of the territory by extremists such as Hamas. In 2002, a spokesman for then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for an investigation of what he described as “30 years of abuse of refugee camps by the Palestinians” and the United Nations’ “bond of silence” toward it.


Animated by similar concerns, the U.S. government has conducted investigations of UNRWA’s operations on its own, and Canada recently redirected some of its funding from UNRWA to other channels. The discovery of Hamas rockets in several UNRWA schools during the current conflict — quickly condemned by U.N. officials — has only deepened the suspicions of Israel’s supporters that UNRWA is, in effect, aligned with Hamas.

[Kennah]

45. "Oh I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/canada-looking-at-un-agency-over-palestinian-connection-1.506576

Peter Hansen, Head of the UNRWA, 2004

[keithbvadu2]

2. 1+

[Qutzupalotl]

5. People here wanted Israel to destroy the tunnels

to destroy Hamas. I'm glad they didn't.

[Think. Again.]

6. I would think...

...the UN has identified the teacher by now, have they released any statement yet?

[debm55]

8. Thank you ,Beastly Boy.

[Cha]

9. So much for HAMAS Propaganda that civilians are innocent bystanders...

And the UN's Involvement Needs Blaring that news and Immediate Investigations! We already knew they were Not being UNbiased.

One of the hostages, recently released from Gaza, revealed on Wednesday that he was held for nearly 50 days in an attic by a teacher from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

The story was publicized on X by Channel 13 journalist Almog Boker.

The hostage also said that the teacher who held him captive was a father of 10 children. He had barely been provided food or medical attention, and was locked away by the teacher, he said.

Furthermore, Boker's report also cites another hostage saying that he was held hostage by a Gazan doctor as he was treating children patients.
The UNRWA school in Nablus

Mahalo: BB

[iemanja]

10. When people dehumanize their adversaries

They can justify anything.

[sheshe2]

11. From one of your links...

Complete darkness, little food. As Hamas releases hostages, what they say captivity was like

Adina Moshe, one of the hostages released by Hamas Friday, emerged from weeks of darkness to a welcome sight.

Her eyes struggled to adjust to the sunlight. But once she saw the Red Cross, she realized “these horrifying seven weeks are over,” her nephew, Eyal Nouri, told The Associated Press after her release.

As the hostages freed in recent days under a cease-fire deal adjust to freedom, their families have shared some details about what they experienced.

“She was in complete darkness,” Nouri said. “And during her captivity, she was disconnected … from all the outside world.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/11/27/hamas-releases-hostages-what-captivity-was-like/71716232007/

..................................

Total darkness is sensory deprivation and it is torture. It is harmful after a day and they endured it for 7 weeks. I can't even.

[calimary]

40. Truly horrifying!

SEVEN WEEKS in total darkness.

That’s gotta bend yer head.

[yardwork]

13. I think of my mother.

[ancianita]

15. Thanks for the great OP, BB!

Eventually, the truth will out. The history of this war will be grounded by what the hostages eventually reveal.

[Joinfortmill]

16. Hamas is brutal. Never forget that.

[artemisia1]

43. So is the Israeli theft and occupation of Palestinian lands... /nt

[Kennah]

46. So what does that mean?

There can be no state of Israel because it's all Palestine.

Or, a two-state (or three-state) solution is the answer.

Something else.

[artemisia1]

49. It means EXACTLY what it says. Steal someone's house and land and push them into ghettoes. Names don't matter.

[Kennah]

53. So from the river to the sea?

[EX500rider]

50. Israel hasn't occupied Gaza since 2005

[artemisia1]

51. It is the Ghetto they pushed them onto after stealing the rest of the land. They are now destroying it utterly.

[EX500rider]

52. Who'd of guessed a massacre of Israeli civilians would have consequences?

It was Turkish land then British land, it could have then been a Palestinian country if they had accepted then UN partition, but they tried to take it all & kill all the Jews, how did that work out for them?

[EX500rider]

57. Certainly lots of propaganda being posted, that's for sure, we may differ on who is posting it though

No, they didn't accept half their land being stolen by European immigrants
You mean half of Turkish then British land?

Killing civilians DOES have consequences
As Hamas is finding out

And, no, it was the early-Israelis who killed the Palestinians and took their land
You mean moved to either Turkish Palestine or the British Mandate and bought land?

UN gives the Palestinians their 1st chance at a country and they throw it away, as they have done ever since, see Camp David or Oslo Accords etc

[artemisia1]

58. Names of land don't matter. It was the homes, orchards and lands stolen that do. Who cares if it was held by Turks or

British. The facts are clear, these lands were stolen at gunpoint by the Israelis. That is the issue not what state they have or could have had. To say that Israeli settlers are not dispossessing Palestinians (or whatever you wish to call them -- it doesn't matter) are not stealing land is to lie. Period. All the Israeli pro-ethnic cleansing propaganda will never change this.

[Beastly Boy]

59. Approximately 900,000 Jews were expelled from Muslim-majority countries between 1950 and 1980.

Their lands stolen and properties confiscated by various Arab and Iranian regimes.

Who do they get to rape and kill?

Remember, names of land don't matter.

[Arazi]

61. Crickets...

🦗

[Darwins_Retriever]

54. What land did they steal?

1967 they were attacked by Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. The lands they took were a result of a war started by the Arab countries,

[Patton French]

63. Are you saying Hamas is justified?

Oh my.

[Hekate]

17. KnR

[paleotn]

20. Careful

You're liable to get alerted on for telling something other than the party line.

[debm55]

25. Welcome Sal_NV Have you ever read the story of the Pied Pipper or the science of lemmings? I am not often on this

forum posting, I do read it . If you need a break come over to the Lounge and take a break. No one is going to change anyones mind. But you might need to take a break. PS Welcome.

[Sal_NV]

26. Yes, I've read the Pied Piper, but never read the science of lemmings, but I do know the

story behind lemmings.

I am seriously thinking about taking a vacation from Democratic Underground for awhile until this crap disappears and we can, in the words of the late Rodney King,
"Can't we all just get along?"

[debm55]

30. Lemmings rodent like creatures. In their group they literally follow their leader to the death. When the leader Jumps

over a cliff and kills themselves the lemmings will, without a thought, follow and jump off the cliff. It can be used for people who follow blindly without using reasoning skills. Cults members are lemmings. what the group leader says has no pushback but blindly follow. I am not allowed to use names here., but I think you can witness what I am saying by looking at the posts. It's like the game I played as a kid---Follow the Leader. Please do explore other areas of DU there are different forums.

[Sal_NV]

32. Thanks for this,

I do love the Music Appreciation forum, lots of good music there.
I'm a child of the 50's and 60's music, but I do love the more modern music while at the same time, staying true to my fathers type of music, the big band era and country western music.

[debm55]

35. We must be the same age . The 55 in my post name is the year I was born. Yes, explore and search. There is a pets forum

My place is the Lounge.

[Sal_NV]

36. I was born in '46, right after the end of WWII, so I guess that make me a boomer baby/

If you say the Lounge is a good place to be, then I'll check it out, this place is getting a little too intense for me on General Discussion and Latest Breaking News.

[obamanut2012]

48. This is incorrect, lemmings do not do that

Disney literally threw live lemmings off of a cliff in that old documentary we all saw in school.

[debm55]

60. No, they don't, They overbreed and have to migrate . some die along the way. However, you knew exactly what I what I was

talking about. It's a figure of speech used by many to describe a type of behavior,

[DET]

39. For What It's Worth...

I appreciate your candor and passion. I’d hate to see you go.

[GP6971]

37. Sorry you feel that way.

[maxsolomon]

23. What's the DU party line?

there are passionate posters on both ends of the spectrum - and all over the middle.

[paleotn]

27. But one side seems awfully liberal with the "alert" button

i.e. anything that doesn't fit their pre-conceived narrative.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

29. Looks like some of the most fervent are enjoying pizza now nt

[Cha]

41. Yeah.. Bon Appetite.

[debm55]

33. True.

[Dave Bowman]

24. That's so horrible...

I'm disgusted by hostages takers, terrorists and torturers. That's barbaric.

[revmclaren]

31. No wonder Hamas has held onto the hostages

so long.

So much intertwining of Hamas and the infrastructure personal of Gaza. And much much more information will come out when the released hostages are no longer afraid of talking because of the still held hostages.

I wonder how many will attack the hostages as being liars or speaking propaganda. How many will refuse to believe the truth when categorically presented to them.

I'm seeing the beginnings right here in this post.

2016 2.0...

[ShazzieB]

34. Thanks for this post, Beastly Boy.

And for all your very informative posts on the Israel/Hamas situation. I have learned SO much from them.

[Mountainguy]

38. The UNRWA employs tens of thousands

of Palestinians, so no surprise that some, many, or most are connected to or in sympathy with Hamas.


But, it should be a very stark reminder that there isn't a clear line between Palestinians and Hamas, there is a lot of fog there and Hamas wouldn't exist without the support of a significant part of the population.

[maxsolomon]

42. No surprise, but unacceptable.

Probably in the UN Employee Handbook is a section on not holding hostages.

[Kennah]

47. Probably was a second gig, and not on the clock for the UN

Lingering hint of

[Johnny2X2X]

55. They still have 150+ hostages

I think the deal ended because Hamas ran out of hostages they didn't rape and torture and couldn't relase the ones they did rape and torture.

[Arazi]

62. I actually agree with that. Or they're dead

I believe there are a couple rival Islamic jihad groups that also have hostages and the manner of their imprisonment isn’t consistent (to say the least).

In the past Israel has “paid” for the release of dead Israeli bodies so Palestinians don’t have a lot of incentive to return them alive. They’ve typically won the release of hundreds - or a thousand prisoners - when returning just one Israeli body

[EX500rider]

65. Yeah I am afraid that is the reason also nt

[Patton French]

64. Thank you BB.

These stories need to be heard.