What did the 85-year-old former Israeli hostage ask Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza tunnel?

Jerusalem:

An 85-year-old Israeli woman who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and released two weeks later said she met the movement’s Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar, while in captivity and asked him how he was not ashamed of his violent actions against peace activists like her.

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was transferred from her home on Kibbutz Nir Oz in Israel to Gaza. She told the Israeli newspaper Davar that she encountered Sinwar when he visited the hostages in an underground tunnel where Hamas was holding them.

“Sinwar was with us three or four days after our arrival,” Lifshitz told the Hebrew-language newspaper Davar. “I asked him how he could not be ashamed to do such a thing to people who have supported peace all these years.”

“He did not answer. He was silent,” she said.

Lifshitz’s grandson told Reuters that Lifshitz is a peace activist who, along with her husband, has helped sick Palestinians in Gaza get to the hospital for years. Her 83-year-old husband, Oded, was also kidnapped from their home and remains in captivity.

Speaking to reporters following her release from Hamas captivity last month, Lifshitz said she “went through hell” during the two weeks she spent as a hostage in the Gaza Strip.

Lifshitz was one of four women released by Hamas at the beginning of the war. She said she was beaten when she was kidnapped, but was then treated well while in captivity for two weeks.

Upon her release, she turned to shake hands with one of the masked kidnappers. When asked why, she replied: “They treated us so kindly and met all our needs.”

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