Germany condemns Hamas for treatment of freed hostages
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Hamas fighters escorting hostages Ohad Ben Ami (left) and Eli Sharabi to be exchanged in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip on Feb 8.
PHOTO: SAHER ALGHORRA/NYTIMES
BERLIN – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemned Hamas on Feb 8 for “forcing” the three latest Israeli hostages freed by the Palestinian militant group to speak before large crowds of its supporters.
Though welcoming their release, Ms Baerbock said it was “intolerable that Hamas has again shown the three men in public... and forced them to give ‘interviews’”, in a post on social media network Bluesky.
One of the hostages freed, 56-year-old Ohad Ben Ami, has dual Israeli-German citizenship.
His wife Raz was also taken hostage in Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack. She was freed after 54 days.
Ms Baerbock said Mrs Raz Ben Ami, also an Israeli-German national, was relieved that “14 months after her own release, she can hold her husband in her arms again”. AFP
