The physical condition of three men released Saturday from Hamas' captivity has sent “outrage” throughout Israel, Chris Mitchell, a journalist with the Christian Broadcasting Network, said on Washington Watch Monday.
Male hostages Elii Sharabi, 52, Ohad Ben Ami, 56 and Or Levy, 34, were set free in the fifth such hostage release in the first phase of the ceasefire which went into effect on Jan. 19. They looked to be far less well than the 18 previous hostages released, their appearance compared by some to Holocaust survivors.
Dr. Yael Frenkel Nir, who heads Sheba General Hospital’s medical response team for returning hostages, said the appearance of the three men “arouses in us a deep and serious concern for the fate of those who remain in captivity,” according to The Associated Press via EuroNews.com.
Hamas continues to hold 73 hostages and said late Monday it would ignore the next scheduled hostage release as it accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump, after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, had no patience for Hamas in his response Monday.
“If the Gaza hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 p.m., I would say cancel the ceasefire. Let all hell break out; Israel can override it,” Trump said, adding that it should be “Israel’s decision” as to whether the ceasefire continues.
Hamas responded to Trump late Monday with an air of diplomacy not usually found in terrorists: “The language of threats has no value and further complicates matters,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Conflicted feelings in Israel
The initial response in a civilized society is to preserve life, but what that means can be complicated and has Israelis divided in their response to the ceasefire, Mitchell told show host Tony Perkins.
For example, there are families of hostages still held by Hamas who want their loved ones freed at any cost. But the disproportionate release of terrorists held by Israel from previous conflicts, as written in the ceasefire agreement, has other families seeing those imprisoned for the death of their loved ones being set free.
A third group – families of service men and women who have died – don’t necessarily want the war to end before all Israel Defense Forces (IDF) goals have been met. They believe anything less means their sons and daughters died in vain, Mitchell explained.
“It’s such a difficult time for Israeli society on so many levels,” he continued.
"This is the fourth time in the current situation [ceasefire] that we received returnees, and the situation is more serious this time. Keeping humans in captivity in such deplorable conditions has serious health consequences. From the medical knowledge we accumulated, the long time in captivity is reflected by a significant deterioration in their condition,” Frenkel Nir said.
Israeli leaders blame Hamas, clearly, but others in the international community as well, Mitchell reported.
“I spoke yesterday to Deputy Foreign Minister Sharon Haskel. She blamed the United Nations for not advocating for the hostages and especially the Red Cross, who actually participated in the last several hostage releases, and yet hasn't taken the time or fought, as she said, to make sure there were visits to these prisoners held in captivity for over 490 days. We know their conditions were horrific.”
Mitchell said Sharabi, Ami and Levy were kept mostly in tunnels below Gaza and left on a starvation diet.
Their appearance now “evokes echoes of the Holocaust. It’s just gut-wrenching, horrific images, and one more emotional roller coaster that Israelis have been on ever since Oct. 7 [2023] and especially in the last several weeks of these hostage releases,” Mitchell said.
Freedom … but not before being subjected to propaganda
Another painful aspect of the releases for all of Israel has been how Hamas has used the hostages as marketing props. They’ve been forced to stand on stage, some of them reading statements, always surrounded by armed and masked terrorists, often with crowds chanting and pressing against the stage.
The scenes have been orchestrated by at least one Al Jazeera journalist, Mitchell said. In this most-recent release, a banner behind the three men read “Zionism will not win.”
As Mitchell explained, “it’s all part of a propaganda effort by Hamas to humiliate these hostages. Part of their plan, discovered by documents by Yahya Sinwar, the late Hamas leader, is to divide Israeli society. This is all part of the dilemma that Netanyahu and his security cabinet have to deal with.”
It’s in stark contrast to the manner in which Hamas terrorists have been released from Israeli prisons.
Hamas' propaganda efforts have also caught the attention of the Red Cross, though Israel was subtly included in a rebuke in which the group urged “all parties, including the mediators, to take responsibility to ensure that future releases are dignified and private.”
