Grandmother released by Hamas ‘very sharp’ and ‘keen to share information’

A grandmother released as a hostage by Hamas militants is “very sharp and is very keen” to share information, her daughter has said, as efforts continue to free the other captives and supply aid to Palestinians.

Sharone Lifschitz, who is based in London, said her 85-year-old mother, Yocheved Lifshitz, “seems OK” after being freed from her weeks-long ordeal in Gaza.

Speaking from Tel Aviv, Mrs Lifshitz said she was beaten with sticks after being snatched from her home before being held in a “spider web” of tunnels under Gaza.

But in comments that will provide some reassurance to the families of other hostages, she said they had been treated well and given medicine by their captors.

She was released alongside fellow Israeli citizen Nurit Cooper, 79, on Monday evening, but their husbands, 83 and 84, remain captive with more than 200 other civilians.

Downing Street said that at least 12 British nationals were killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel and a further five are still missing, with some of them believed to have been kidnapped.

As she was released to Red Cross officials, Mrs Lifshitz was seen reaching back to shake the hand of one of the Palestinian militants as she said “Shalom”, a greeting in Hebrew meaning peace.

Ms Lifschitz, an artist and academic who spells her name differently from her mother, said it was “incredible” to be reunited with her – “to hold her hand and to kiss her cheek”.

“She is very sharp and is very keen to share the information, pass on the information to families of other hostages she was with,” she told the BBC.

She said she will continue to campaign for the release of her father, Oded Lifshitz, and the other captives.

“He speaks good Arabic, so he can communicate very well with the people there,” Ms Lifschitz said.

“He knows many people in Gaza and the West Bank. I want to think that he’s going to be OK.

“My mum said they had been looked after and there was a doctor there, so this gives a lot of comfort to everybody.

“We have so many people that we’ve lost – it is a little ray of light but there is a huge darkness as well.”

Ms Lifschitz said she and her mother still dream of peace with the Palestinians, even as an expected ground invasion of Gaza by Israel threatens sparking a wider war in the region.

“We have to find ways because there is no alternative. If anything, it makes me even more resolved,” she said.

“The way has got longer – we are dealing with grief and loss on a level we can never get over, but as nations we will have to find a way forward.”

Mrs Lifshitz was able to describe her ordeal for herself as she appeared at a press conference in Tel Aviv while sitting in a wheelchair and being supported by her daughter.

Translating for her mother, Ms Lifschitz said she had been beaten with sticks after militants snatched her away on a motorbike before leading her into Gaza’s tunnels.

“There is a huge network of tunnels underneath – it looks like a spider web,” the daughter said.

But, giving a glimmer of hope to other families, she said the militants provided the hostages with medical care.

“They were very friendly towards them and they took care of them, they were given medicine and they were treated,” Ms Lifschitz said.

The release of the two women took the total number of people freed to four, with an American woman and her teenage daughter having been released three days earlier.

Fewer than five Britons are believed to be among the hostages as officials fear that some of those missing have been killed.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: “We can confirm at least 12 British nationals were tragically killed in last week’s terrorist attacks.

“A further five British nationals are missing.”

Meanwhile, international development minister Andrew Mitchell told MPs the number of aid trucks being allowed to enter Gaza is “wholly inadequate”.

He said that the UK will “continue to press all the relevant authorities” to allow essentials such as water, food, medicine and fuel into the territory during Israel’s siege.

The World Health Organisation said that nearly two-thirds of Gaza’s health facilities have stopped functioning.

Charities have been urging the Government to prepare to provide refuge to thousands of Palestinians who want to flee Gaza, home to more than two million people.

But Financial Secretary to the Treasury Victoria Atkins said it is not the right time to consider providing sanctuary.

She told LBC: “At this point in time, I don’t think that’s the right response, because we need to keep the pressure on this terrorist organisation to stop their hostilities, to release hostages and to come back to the diplomatic negotiating table.

“We want Palestinians to be able to live freely in their own area. We do not want these hostilities to continue by this terrorist organisation.”

Mrs Lifshitz and Ms Cooper were handed over to the Red Cross at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Hamas said it had released the two women for humanitarian reasons.

Along with their husbands, they were snatched from their homes in the kibbutz of Nir Oz near the Gaza border during Hamas’s rampage into southern Israeli communities.

More than 1,400 people in Israel, mostly civilians, were killed during the initial Hamas attack.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, more than 5,000 Palestinians, including around 2,000 minors and 1,100 women, have been killed since.