President Isaac Herzog said the emaciated hostages freed on Saturday is “what a crime against humanity looks like,” as families of Hamas victims likened the emaciated men to images from the Holocaust, saying they underscored the urgency to complete the ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi were visibly gaunt and frail when they were released by the terror group after 16 months.
Many family members, watching from Israel, burst into tears as the three were paraded by terrorists in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah before being handed over to the Red Cross.
Herzog wrote on X that “the whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli— returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained — being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers. We take solace in the fact that they are being returned alive to the arms of their loved ones.”
“Completing the hostage deal is a humanitarian, moral, and Jewish duty,” he added.
“Almost unbearable to see the emaciated hostages forced to give interviews to some Hamas ‘reporter,'” he wrote on X.
“Parading them like that is yet another terrible crime by the terrorists,” wrote Seibert. Ben Ami is a dual German-Israeli national.
Saturday’s release, the fifth of the hostage deal’s first phase, came as some hostage families feared the agreement would collapse before the second phase, leaving dozens in captivity.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum urged the immediate release of the remainder of Israeli hostages after images emerged of the three men looking severely malnourished and frail.
“The horrifying images of Ohad, Eli, and Or reveal the devastating toll of 491 days in Hamas captivity,” the forum said. “These are men who have endured hell itself. This is a crime against humanity.
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