At the precise moment of her deliverance from a hellish ordeal Yocheved Lifshitz paused and turned to grip the hand of one of the masked Hamas militants who had kept her captive. “Shalom,” she said.
The handshake and the Hebrew word for peace were a remarkable gesture by the 85-year-old Israeli who later spoke of brutality and mercy during her 16 days as a hostage in Gaza.
At a press conference on Tuesday Lifshitz said that after initial violence her Hamas captors had shown “care” and “gentleness” – a rare description of humanity in a savage conflict that may turn even bloodier. Some Israeli commentators called her comments a public relations win for Hamas.
Lifshitz was released on Monday night with Nurit Yitzhak, 79, who also goes by the name Nurit Cooper, in a deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar. As the two women were handed to aid workers Lifshitz turned to a Hamas militant with an assault rifle, offered her hand and bid him farewell with the Hebrew version of the Arabic word for peace, salaam.
After being reunited with relatives at the Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv the grandmother spoke of the horror of 7 October, when Hamas attackers rampaged through southern Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and abducting an estimated 220, including Britons.
Seated in a wheelchair and speaking calmly at a chaotic press conference, Lifshitz said the attackers “went wild” after breaking through a security fence. “They killed and kidnapped both old and young with no distinction.”
She was tied to a motorcycle and driven to Gaza. “As we rode, the motorcycle rider hit me with a wooden pole. They didn’t break my ribs, but it hurt me a lot in that area, making it difficult to breathe. They stole my watch and jewellery.”
She was held at Abasan al-Kabira, near Be’eri kibbutz, and at another location she could not identify. “Eventually, we went underground and walked for kilometres in wet tunnels, for two or three hours in a spider web of tunnels. We reached a large hall. We were a group of 25 people, and they separated us according to which kibbutz we were from.”
Guards fed the prisoners the same type of food they ate. A doctor visited daily and provided medication and treatment, including for a hostage injured in a motorbike crash, she said. “They were very concerned with hygiene and were worried about an outbreak of something. We had toilets which they cleaned every day.”
Lifshitz accused Israel’s security forces of ignoring evidence that Hamas was preparing an attack. “Three weeks ago, masses arrived at the fence. The IDF did not take it seriously. We were left to fend for ourselves.”
Several Israeli media commentators said Lifshitz’s comments were a PR disaster and accused the Israeli authorities of clumsy handling of the press conference.
The whole “nightmare” keeps repeating in her mind, Lifshitz said. The condition and fate of other hostages, including her husband, Oded, 83, are unclear. More than 5,000 people have died in Gaza since Israeli forces started bombarding the strip, according to Palestinian authorities.
Lifshitz and her husband are veteran peace and human rights activists who used to ferry sick Palestinians from Gaza to medical treatment in Israel, according to the family.
Speaking to the Guardian before her mother’s release, Sharone Lifschitz, 52, from Walthamstow in east London, said “there would be no return to before”, even if both her parents were freed.
“The destruction is so big. My parents’ home is burned to the ground. There is nothing left, and the people we have lost we will not get back. There is so much trauma, too. At my kibbutz, there is a rota for attending funerals. There are six funerals every day. We have had funerals for whole families.”
Noya Dan, a 12-year-old autistic girl and a neighbour of the Lifshitz family, was found dead alongside her 80-year-old grandmother, said Sharone Lifschitz. “She’s a child. My parents were always so adamant that you do everything for the children. My father taught her to play the piano.”
Oded was due to attend hospital for high blood pressure when he was abducted, said Sharone Lifschitz. “He was getting more and more frail.”
Her father, a journalist who had campaigned for the rights of Palestinians and Bedouin tribes, would be “horrified” that Israel’s response was punishing ordinary Palestinians, not only Hamas, she said. “He always made a distinction between the leaders and the people.”
The family of Ditza Heiman, 84, a former social worker also kidnapped from the Nir-oz kibbutz, welcomed news of Lifshitz and Yitzhak’s release.
“We are delighted that Yocheved and Nurit have been reunited with their families,” said a spokesperson for Heiman’s family. “It is our deep longing for this to also happen with Ditza. Last night’s release of Ditza’s longtime neighbours shows that there is a pathway that can enable the release of hostages.”
The spokesperson urged all national and international parties to ensure that the release of all the hostages remained a key priority, adding that the Red Cross needed to be allowed to check on the captives’ wellbeing.
“Ditza is a person who always shows kindness, love and compassion for others,” they said.
“We wish for her to now receive this in return at a time when she so desperately needs it. Whilst Ditza is extraordinarily strong in mind, she is no longer so strong in body. She is 84 years old and requires regular medication. With each passing day, our deep concern for her welfare further intensifies.”
Additional reporting by Sam Jones