84-year-old hostage freed by Hamas now in intensive care
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Ms Elma Avraham was among a group of 17 hostages who were freed on Nov 26 after seven weeks in captivity.
PHOTO: REUTERS
JERUSALEM – An 84-year-old Israeli hostage, Ms Elma Avraham, was released by Hamas on Nov 26 and rushed to a hospital intensive care unit with her life in danger, the hospital director said.
Ms Avraham “is in critical condition”, said Mr Shlomi Codish, head of the Soroka Medical Centre in southern Israel.
He said that she is being treated in the centre’s emergency department after “serious neglect for the last several weeks while being held by Hamas”.
Ms Avraham, an artist, was kidnapped along with others on Oct 7 when Hamas fighters launched an attack on southern Israel.
The Israeli army estimates that 240 hostages were seized and taken back to the Gaza Strip.
According to Ms Avraham’s son Uri Rawitz, who spoke to her on Nov 26, the octogenarian had not managed to lock the door to the safe room in her house when the attack happened.
Mr Rawitz later received a photograph of his mother being taken away on a motorbike by armed fighters with another hostage.
Ms Avraham was among a group of 17 hostages, most of them Israelis, who were freed on Nov 26 after seven weeks in captivity.
Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners, in the third such exchange of a four-day truce which began on Nov 24.
“It is horrific that we now need to care for elderly patients held in an underground tunnel for seven weeks with total medical neglect and disregard to their care,” said Mr Codish. AFP
