Relatives of an Israeli mother and child who appeared to be shown in captivity in Gaza in recently released videos from the day of the Hamas-led attack said Tuesday they hoped the footage would draw attention to the urgency of the release of the hostages.

The Israeli army distributed videos Members said this on Monday evening the Bibas family in the Khan Younis area of ​​southern Gaza on October 7. The New York Times could not immediately verify the footage, which showed a figure covered in a blanket while appearing to hold a red-haired child.

At a tearful news conference, Ofri Bibas-Levy, the sister of Yarden Bibas, who was captured along with his wife Shiri and their two red-haired children, Ariel and Kfir, said she desperately called on Israeli and international leaders to bring her relatives home through a negotiated deal.

“When we saw the video, it really broke our hearts,” Ms. Bibas-Levy said.

The fate of the Bibas family is murky. In late November, Hamas claimed that Ms. Bibas and the children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Israeli officials have not confirmed the claim.

The Bibas family was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a town along Israel's border with Gaza, where more than 70 of the approximately 240 hostages were captured. Kfir, who was nine months old when he was captured, is the youngest hostage in Gaza. Israeli officials estimate that about 130 hostages remain in captivity, although that number is at least 30 thought he was dead.

In the videos, which the Israeli military says are from security cameras in Khan Younis, red hair on the back of a child's head can be seen over the shoulder of a barefoot figure walking along a dirt path, as if being a child to behave. . Surrounded by several men, at least one of whom is armed, the figures are draped in a blanket with a blue and white pattern and transferred in a car.

Kfir is not seen in the videos, but Vice Admiral Daniel Hagari, an Israeli army spokesman, said in a news briefing that the baby was likely in a baby carrier on his mother's chest, as he was when the family was captured in Israel. . He did not say how authorities confirmed the identity.

The Israeli military could not confirm whether Ms. Bibas and her children are alive or dead, but Admiral Hagari said that based on the information they have, “we are very concerned and concerned about the condition and well-being of Shiri and the children . .”

He added that “we are doing everything we can to obtain more information about their fate.”

The fate of the Bibas family has captivated the Israeli public and the publication of the videos made headlines in the Israeli media. Yedioth Ahronoth, a popular Israeli daily, led the front page with an article entitled “A mother and two little souls, led into darkness.”

“I know they have become a symbol,” Ms. Bibas-Levy said, “but for us, they are our family, and we want them back.”

• All important information about what happened to Elisabeth Fritzl and where she is now

By Zac Campbell

Published: 05:40 EST, January 16, 2024 | Updated: 07:26 EST, January 16, 2024

Mia Schem was held hostage in Gaza for three days as she reportedly underwent surgery for a gunshot wound suffered during Hamas’s attack on Israel. For days, forced to share a room with her captor, she was given no painkillers and had to change her own bandages.

The account of Ms. Schem, who spoke about her 55 days of captivity to two television stations and in a photo essay published in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper, has struck a chord in Israel.

It mirrors that of other hostages: a lack of food and water and minimal access to medical care. But her interviews and written accounts, which could not be independently confirmed, have provided the most detailed look at what life was like in captivity. Her family did not agree to an interview with The New York Times.

Ms. Schem, a 21-year-old Israeli French citizen from Shoham, Israel, was kidnapped by Hamas after fleeing the Nova music festival during the October 7 terrorist attack that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel. Early in the war, the group released a video of her in captivity, the first of one of more than 230 hostages.

In her memories since her release, Ms. Schem describes being held in a family’s home in Gaza, in a room with her captor, and with his wife and children in the adjoining room. Her only time alone was in the bathroom, where she occasionally stuck her tattooed fingers out of the window in the hope of being recognized, she wrote in Yediot Ahronot.

One day, as Ms. Schem struggled with a bun in her hair, her captor approached with a pair of scissors, she wrote. She yelled at him and told him she would handle it herself, which ended up taking her almost two weeks because of her injured arm, she said.

Ms. Schem told Israeli television that her captor’s wife would “bring him food” some days, without bringing anything for Ms. Schem.

“There were days when she wouldn’t let me eat,” Mrs. Schem said.

She told Israeli television that her captor at one point called her to watch television footage of her mother speaking at a press conference, saying he did so “to hurt me,” but that she nonetheless drew from seeing her mother.

On another day, her captor was upset after his friends were killed in an Israeli bombing, she said, adding that she only comforted him to “play the game.” Other times the bombardment was close.

“The windows of the house I was in were broken,” she says.

Ms Schem said that in the last few days before her release, she was taken to tunnels almost 60 meters underground where it was difficult to breathe.

In her hostage video released by Hamas, Ms. Schem begged to go home and described undergoing surgery. She told Israeli television that she had been told to say she was being taken care of.

“You do what you’re told,” she said in describing the video. “You’re afraid of dying.”

Ms. Schem was eventually released in late November during a brief ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Since then, she said, she has had more surgeries because her bone was badly damaged when she was shot.

Now home, she struggles to come to terms with her experiences in Gaza and leaving other hostages behind.

“I can’t get it out of my head,” she told Israeli television.

By Kinta Walsh-cotton for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 8:21 PM EST, December 7, 2023 | Updated: 9:11 PM EST, December 7, 2023

An aunt of Avigail Idan, the girl who was taken hostage by Hamas after seeing her parents brutally murdered and who turned four just days before her release, says her niece shared one piece of pita bread a day with four others, and that she did too. is not allowed to shower or bathe during her 50 days in captivity.

Avigail, who is a citizen of both Israel and the United States, was held with the four members of the Brodutch family with whom she was kidnapped on October 7. The Brodutches were neighbors of the Idan family on the kibbutz Kfar Aza, and Avigail had hidden with the family after her parents were shot.

According to Aunt Tal Idan, the five hostages were held in above-ground apartments, changing locations at least once. Every day they received a piece of pita bread with za’atar, a spice mixture from the Middle East, to share.

While in captivity, Avigail’s hair was cut because she had developed a significant case of lice, Ms. Idan said in an interview this week. “She was underneath it. It took quite a bit of effort to get her off some of it the first night,” she said.

“It was beautiful curly hair. And now it’s all gone. But it will grow again.”

When Avigail was released on Sunday, she was met at the border in Israel by her grandmother and an aunt. A military helicopter took them to a children’s hospital near Tel Aviv. The military gave her small, pink noise-canceling headphones that she could wear over her ears.

Avigail’s family was relieved to learn that she was not alone during her captivity, and that she was being cared for by Hagar Brodutch, while also caring for her own three children. “We are so grateful to Hagar,” Ms Idan said, calling the 40-year-old “our guardian angel”.

Since the Oct. 7 attacks, Ms. Idan and her husband have helped care for Avigail’s siblings, Michael, 9, and Amelia, 6, who were not kidnapped. Now, she said, the children are having to adjust to life without their parents.

“For all three of them, the focus is on helping them get a new lease on life – being able to feel safe again and sleep through the night without having nightmares,” she said.

A mother released from captivity in Gaza with her son told relatives that they had been sleeping on chairs pushed together. An 85-year-old grandmother from another family described counting the days to keep time.

On Sunday, two days after the first group of 13 hostages were released and returned to Israel, details began to emerge through conversations with family members about the nearly 50 days they and others released on Saturday as prisoners of armed groups in the Palestinian enclave. .

The released hostages have not spoken directly to the news media and most are still being treated in private areas of Israeli hospitals. Much of the information about where and how they were held remains classified.

Relatives who spoke to or met some of the released hostages said they all appeared to have spent their weeks in captivity, completely cut off from the outside world, and returned thinner than before.

“They were eating, but not regularly and not all the time,” said Merav Mor Raviv, a cousin of Keren Munder, 54, who was released Friday along with her son, Ohad Munder-Zichri, 9, and her mother. Ruth Munder, 78. “They ate a lot of rice and bread,” Ms. Raviv said, adding that Keren told her that both she and her mother had lost about 6 to 8 kilos, or 13 to 18 pounds.

Ms Raviv said the Munders had slept in a reception room on makeshift couches they made by pushing three chairs together, and that if they wanted to go to the bathroom they had to knock on a door and wait – sometimes for up to two hours . o’clock.

Adva Adar’s grandmother, Yaffa Adar, 85, was among the hostages released Friday. She noticed that her grandmother had lost weight and knew that she had retained it for almost fifty days because she had been keeping count.

Ms. Raviv and Adva Adar spoke to reporters on Sunday via a video call organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a non-governmental group set up to support the hostages and their families, and Media Central, an Israeli nonprofit that provides services to journalists. .

As an indication of how isolated the hostages were, Ms. Raviv said, Ruth Munder only learned after her release that her son, Roi, had been killed in the Oct. 7 attack.

But the Munders also received better news. Ms Raviv said Ruth assumed her husband, Avraham Munder, had been killed in the attacks, but was told after her release that he had survived and had been taken separately to Gaza.

Ms. Raviv said the Munders “had no idea” of the public campaign for their release and the fact that their faces and names are now known throughout Israel.

The uncle of two hostages released late Saturday – Noam Or, 17, and his sister Alma, 13 – told the BBC Sunday that they too were unaware until their release that their mother, Yonat Or, had been killed in the October 7 terrorist attacks.

“They have some difficult stories to tell about the way they were captured and treated,” Ahal Besorai said of his nephew and niece. He said he spoke to them on a video call at the hospital where they are staying.

The Or siblings were taken hostage along with their father, Dror, who is believed to still be held in Gaza. Mr Besorai said Noam and Or were being held separately from their father.

Nine-year-old Irish girl Emily Hand and twelve other Hamas prisoners have finally been released after 50 days in a real hell.

Noam, 17, and Alma Or, 13, the siblings who were cruelly taken hostage after the group of terrorists killed their mother, Yonat, were also sent back.

Unfortunately, their father, who was also captured by Hamas on October 7, was not released with them.

The names of hostages revealed through the Hostage and Missing Persons Families Forum indicate that the terrorist group will free people from just one kibbutz, Be’eri.

Sharon Aviddori, 52, a drama therapist who works with people on the autism spectrum, and her daughter Noam Aviddori, 12, who was about to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah. Both were captured from Kibbutz Be’eri.

Hila Rotem, 13, who managed to escape from her home in Be’eri but was later found in the bushes and taken to Gaza, has also been released, but her mother remains in captivity.

The other hostages released Saturday evening are Maya Regev, 21, Noga Weiss, 53, Shiri Weiss, 18, Shoshan Haran, 67, Adi Shoham, 38, Yahel Shoham, three, Naveh Shoham, eight.

The release of hostages came as part of a temporary ceasefire brokered by Qatar and the United States between Hamas and Israel.

One released prisoner, Emily, was kidnapped during Hamas’ invasion of Israel on October 7, during which approximately 240 prisoners were returned to Gaza.

She was among at least 30 children believed to still be held in the besieged enclave.

Her father previously spoke of his fear that his daughter would not be released as part of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

“Until I see Emily’s blue eyes looking into mine, I won’t allow myself to believe anything,” the Dublin dad, 63, wrote in The Independent on Wednesday.

“The news that fifty Hamas hostages could soon be released as part of a four-day truce has given me a glimmer of hope,” he wrote, “but also a new sickness in the pit of my stomach. What if Emily isn’t among those who send her attackers home?’

Noam and Alma are two siblings from the Or family who have regained their freedom.

Their home was destroyed by the Hamas group when a group of fighters took the sibling, their father Dror and their cousin Liam, 18, hostage.

The couple’s older brother, Yahli, and their dog, Nella, fortunately survived, but the ruthless terrorists murdered their mother on the day they brutally invaded their kibbutz.

Yahli is now volunteering for a year’s national service in the north after escaping what could have been a fatal fate as he was not home on October 7.

Dror was a chef and cheesemaker at the Be’eri Dairy, and his wife, Yonat, successfully created her own furniture line.

Maya Regev, 21, who was kidnapped during the Supernova music festival, is also among the 13 to be released.

The free spirit is believed to have arrived at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba this evening in a stable condition.

She was the only hostage taken to the medical center and given immediate medical attention.

The music lover was kidnapped during the festival, along with her brother Itai, who remains in captivity.

The Ministry of Health says her family is waiting for her and they are calling on the public to respect her privacy at this time while she receives treatment and is reunited with family and friends. according to The Times Of Israel.

Shoshan Haran, a well-known agricultural expert, also regained her freedom after being declared missing following the October attacks.

Her family has remained strong and hopeful over the past few terrifying weeks.

Missing his sister greatly, Aviv Havron arrived at Shoshan’s house with 200 burgers and a ceramic pot.

He told the local newspaper: “This is all that’s left of Shoshan’s house.

“The terrorists detonated the house with explosives after kidnapping Shoshan and nine other members of her family.”

Shoshan founded Fair Planet, an internationally renowned agricultural project that has enabled thousands of previously impoverished farmers to earn a good living while providing a reliable food source to a million Africans.

After she, like her life, was taken hostage, the organization was in danger.

She studied plant biology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Rutgers University in New Jersey and has since built an impressive career at Hazera Genetics.

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.

The release of the 24 prisoners – out of about 240 taken hostage by Hamas during an attack on southern Israel on October 7 – comes after an agreement between Israel and Hamas that includes a four-day ceasefire.

Tel Aviv: Palestinian armed group Hamas has released 24 hostages held captive in Gaza for nearly seven weeks, and Israel has freed 39 Palestinian prisoners, hours after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas brokered by Qatar came into effect. The released prisoners included 13 Israelis, 10 Thai nationals and a Philippine citizen, Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Qatar, said on Friday.

The release of the 24 prisoners – out of roughly 240 taken hostage by Hamas during an attack on southern Israel on October 7 – comes after an agreement between Israel and Hamas that includes a four-day ceasefire and prisoner exchanges for Palestinians detained in Israel. Israeli prisons, came into effect.

Images of hostages being released by Hamas in Tel Aviv. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirms that the released hostages are with them, and that they will continue to be accompanied by IDF soldiers as they make their way to Israeli hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families.

Images of hostages being released by Hamas in Tel Aviv. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirms that the released hostages are with them, and that they will continue to be escorted by IDF soldiers as they make their way to Israeli hospitals, where they will be reunited with their… pic.twitter.com/q91TWKKdR6

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 24, 2023

The ICRC in Israel and the Occupied Territories said it had transported the group of prisoners from Gaza to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. “We are relieved to confirm the safe release of 24 hostages,” the ICRC wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Qatar said 39 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons were released as part of the deal. Israel confirmed that 39 prisoners had been released.

The first group of hostages have been released from Gaza after 48 days of captivity as part of a truce deal between Israel and Hamas that went into effect this morning.

Thirteen Israeli women and children and 12 Thai hostages, who were kidnapped and taken into the territory by the terror group in its October 7 attack on Israel, were finally freed today after an agonising wait.

Israeli media reported the hostages had been transferred by Hamas to the Red Cross, then on to the Egyptians, before crossing into Egypt. They will next be given to the IDF who will transfer them by helicopter to a hospital in central Israel.

Going the other way were 39 Palestinian prisoners – 24 women and 15 teenagers – who are being released by Israel as part of the deal that paused the fighting in the Gaza Strip for the first time in seven weeks which was sparked by Hamas’s attack.

The lists of all civilians that would be released from Gaza has been agreed, but was not released publicly ahead of time. Some 30 children are currently believed to be among the 240 captives who were taken into Gaza by Hamas.

Two sources close to Hamas confirmed to AFP news agency that some hostages had been handed over to the Red Cross for return to Israel.

‘Half an hour ago, the prisoners were handed to the Red Cross who will take them to the Egyptians and the Israelis who are due to receive them,’ one of the sources said.

The second source confirmed the handover, AFP reported.

The families of kidnapped hostages were seen nervously watching news broadcasts of the vans carrying their loved ones into Egypt. 

They erupted with joy upon hearing that the vans had safely made it through the Rafah crossing.  

It is understood that those involved in the deal are under orders to treat the hostages with the utmost sensitivity. Some of the children held in Gaza since October 7 lost family members in the attack, and their homes in southern Israel destroyed.

It is not known whether they have been told this while in captivity, but social workers are expected to break the news to any of the children who have lost loved ones.

The fragile four-day truce began at 7am local time (12am ET and 5am GMT), with guns due to be laid down across the region for the first time in almost seven weeks.

Over the four days of the ceasefire, at least 50 hostages are expected to be freed, leaving an estimated 190 in the hands of Palestinian militants.

In exchange, 150 Palestinians prisoners are expected to be released.

The agreement is also intended to provide additional aid to 2.4 million residents who face shortages of essential goods after Israel tightened a siege of the territory.

Around 50 trucks with food aid, along with three fuel trucks and four with gas, entered on Friday morning, said Wael Abu Omar, director of communications on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing point with Egypt. 

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) said its military has ‘completed its operational preparations according to the defensive positions of the pause’.

Hamas’ leader abroad, Ismail Haniyeh, said that the terror group is committed to abiding by the peace terms, as long as Israel does the same. 

Haniyeh said in a video today: ‘Hamas will pursue its effort to halt the Israeli assault on Gaza, complete the prisoner exchange, end the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip and attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in addition to enabling the Palestinian people to realise their legitimate national right for an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, self-determination and the return [of Palestinian refugees].’

Despite the truce this morning, smoke continued to rise across Gaza and journalists said artillery fire from inside the enclave carried on for 18 minutes after the ceasefire begun. However, the deal held, and the first group were exchange. 

There were no further reports of fighting in the hours after the truce began. 

Officials have admitted the exchange was ‘complicated’. 

The truce, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, brought the first pause in the war since it began.

The agreement entailed a ‘complete ceasefire with no attacks from the air or the ground’ and the skies clear of drones to ‘allow for the hostage release to happen in a safe environment’, the Qatari foreign ministry said.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed that a truce was underway with Hamas in Gaza, but that it was a ‘short pause’.

Once it ends, Israel will resume the war with full military forces, he said.

‘There will be a short pause and then we will continue operating with full military power. We will not stop until we achieve our goals: the destruction of Hamas and bringing home the hostages from Gaza to Israel there are 240 hostages and it is something we cannot accept and cannot tolerate,’ Gallant said.

The IDF also said on X that earlier in the day troops had ‘destroyed a route of underground terrorist tunnels’ and ‘tunnel shafts’ around the Al-Shifa hospital.

A spokesman warned in a video that those living in Gaza should know ‘the war is not over yet’ – before demanding they remain in the south of the strip.

Released hostage children will be given ear defenders to protect them from the noise of helicopters taking them to hospital it has emerged.

Officials have been worried that the intense shock and experience of travelling on a helicopter may cause anxiety amongst the youngest children set to be freed.

Some are said to be only three or four years old and medical staff have been discussing travel arrangements with Israeli Defence Forces officials.

Preparations for their arrival have intensified over the last few days with hospitals, medical staff and trauma specialists remaining on standby.

They will also be given a hold-all containing clothes, blankets food, wipes, wash bags and – for the children – colouring books and pencils.

In a statement the Israeli Defence Forces said: ‘Over the past day, the IDF completed preparations for receiving the hostages released from captivity in the Gaza Strip upon their return to Israel.

‘The IDF, in coordination with government ministries and security authorities, have prepared to quickly receive the released hostages and give them all the necessary support.

‘As part of the preparations, the IDF has readied several locations dedicated to the initial reception of the released hostages, including with necessary medical provisions and support.

‘After the initial reception and medical treatment, the released hostages will continue to hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families.’ 

In Gaza nearly 15,000 people, 6,150 of them children, have been killed in the war, officials in the Hamas-run territory said.

About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israel during the October 7 attack and around 240 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.