An 85-year-old hostage held captive by Hamas, after being freed, revealed that she met with the Palestinian militant group’s chief Yahya Sinwar in Gaza where she blatantly told him how she felt bout the situation.
As per the Times Of Israel report, Yocheved Lifshitz in an interview said that she asked Sinwar how he wasn’t ashamed to make such a move and do what he did to the people who for years have been advocating for peace.
“Sinwar was with us three-four days after we got there,” Lifshitz told news outlet Davar, according to the Times of Israel.
“I asked him how he wasn’t ashamed, to do such a thing to people who for years support peace? He didn’t answer. He was quiet,” she added.
Lifshitz joined a rally on Tuesday (Nov 28) outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, calling for her husband, Oded Lifshitz’s release, who is still in captivity.
“I’m here to protest. To bring my Oded home,” Lifshitz said. “We will keep protesting until all of the hostages are back.”
12 more hostages released
In a fifth batch of hostage releases on Tuesday (Nov 25), Hamas freed 12 people in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners under an extended truce deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying that 10 Israelis and two Thais were freed by the Palestinian militant group.
Germany’s foreign minister later confirmed that one out of the 12 hostages released was a German national.
“Weeks of anguish have finally come to an end for other families: just today, 12 hostages were released — among them, a German woman. I’m relieved for them all,” Annalena Baerbock wrote on X
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari later said Tuesday’s freed Israelis included nine women and a girl. They included a Filipina dual national and two Argentinean dual nationals.
Israel’s prison services later said 30 Palestinian detainees were released in a swap for hostages.
This comes a day after the truce deal was extended by two days between both the warring sides.
The extension was hailed by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called it a “glimpse of hope and humanity in the middle of the darkness of war”.
(With inputs from agencies)
