85-year-old hostage reveals Hamas's 'spider web' of underground tunnels

Old lady Yocheved Lifschitz (sitting in the middle) answers the press after being released by Hamas on the evening of October 23 (Photo: Getty)

Yocheved Lifschitz, 85, and Nurit Cooper, 79, were released by Hamas on October 23 after two weeks of detention. She later revealed her days of being held by Hamas in a complex and giant underground tunnel system that resembled a "spider web".

On October 24, from a hospital in Tel Aviv, Ms. Lifschitz said she had been through "hell" after she and her husband and more than 200 others were taken hostage in the Hamas attack on October 7.

She said she was captured in Nir Oz, and then taken to Gaza by motorbike, where she walked through mud to reach a vast network of Hamas tunnels that she described as “spider webs”.

Most of the hostages were kept under surveillance and slept on mattresses in the tunnel, which she described as "clean", she said.

"They gave us bread, hard cheese, some low-fat cream cheese and cucumbers and that was our food for the whole day," she said, adding that the injured were being treated by doctors.

"They get scared when we get sick," she said.

Ms Lifschitz's husband remains in Hamas custody. Israel is working with countries whose citizens are detained in an effort to secure their safe release.

On October 23, images of Ms. Lifshitz upon her release showed her saying “shalom,” which means peace in Hebrew. She then shook hands with a member of the Hamas force.

When asked why she did this, Ms. Lifschitz said that this person had treated her well.

Before being arrested by Hamas, Ms. Lifschitz and her husband were peace activists who helped transport sick people from Gaza to hospitals in Israel for treatment.

Gaza's densely populated terrain, underground tunnel network and large numbers of men, women and children held captive have left Israel facing its most complex hostage crisis to date.

Israel admitted that although it had "some experience" with hostage situations, it had never dealt with anything like this.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/con-tin-85-tuoi-tiet-lo-ve-mang-luoi-ham-ngam-nhu-mang-nhen-cua-hamas-20231024221030878.htm