Hamas hit me with stick and took me on bike

I went through hell, says Israeli hostage, 85, freed after being kept in spiderweb’ of Gaza tunnels

- Rachael Burford

A LONDONER whose mother was released after being taken captive by Hamas terrorists and held in tunnels under Gaza today called for the other hostages to be released.

Sharone Lifschitz, from Walthamstow, said her mother Yocheved Lifshitz was doing well after being freed from her “hellish” ordeal last night.

The 85-year-old told how she and her husband were held in a “spider web” of tunnels under the Palestinian city after being kidnapped from their homes in the Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7.

Mrs Lifschitz added she had “been through hell” and, referring to the other hostages taken by Hamas, felt “the story’s not over until everybody comes back”.

Speaking in Hebrew, with her daughter translating, she told reporters this morning that they were hit with sticks by Hamas militants and taken into Gaza on the back of a motorbike, with her legs on one side and her hands on the other. The elderly hostages were then forced to walk for several kilometres on the wet ground of the tunnels.

She added that it was “hell” but said the militants had treated them “gently” and “looked after our needs”. There was a guard for each of the five people being held hostage in her group. Mrs Lifschitz said that while being held in the tunnels, her group was given white cheese and cucumber to eat.

Mrs Lifschitz said that Hamas seemed “really prepared” and it appeared that they had planned the assault for “a long time”. She was released alongside fellow Israeli citizen Nurit Cooper, 79. But their husbands, including Sharone Lifschitz’s father, Oded, 83, remained captive with more than 200 other civilians.