Amid the relentless bombardment and massacre in Gaza, where the total of those murdered or trapped under rubble, the majority of whom are women and children, exceeds those annihilated in Srebrenica in 1995, stories of benevolence are emerging from the most unlikely of places.
Two elderly Israeli women who were held as prisoners of war (PoW) by Hamas in Gaza have been released. The Palestinian organisation and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed that 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and 79-year-old Nurit Yitzhak were handed over to Egyptian authorities on Monday, the 23rd of October 2023.
Yocheved Lifshitz, a peace activist from Nir Oz, who was released from Gaza, bearing witness to an entirely different narrative than the one often painted by the powerful propaganda machine fuelled with millions of dollars!
Ms. Lifshitz’s experience in captivity defies the stereotype of her captors. She has spoken of the care given to the health of hostages, where medication, shampoo, and feminine hygiene products were provided. The prisoners were fed the same meagre rations as their guards, a stark illustration of the grim reality.
In her words:
‘They were very attentive to the sanitary aspect, so we don’t get sick on them, God forbid. There was a doctor nearby who would come every two or three days to check on us. And the medic took the responsibility to bring us medication. If they did not have the exact same medication, they brought us the equivalent.’
The 85-year-old expressed her disappointment in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and their hesitation in acting upon warnings and threats which were given three weeks prior.
“The lack of awareness by Shin Bet and the IDF hurt us a lot,” she expressed, adding that “They warned us three weeks beforehand, they burned fields, they sent fire balloons and the IDF did not treat it seriously.”
In a video capturing her handover to the International Committee of the Red Cross, she can be seen grasping a Hamas member’s hand and saying the Hebrew word ‘shalom’, meaning ‘goodbye and peace’.
What a contrast to the actions and the callous remarks of figures like Ghassan Alian, the Major General of the Israeli Army, who referred to Palestinians as ‘animal humans’, and Daniel Harai, the Israeli Army Spokesman, who emphasised that their focus was on ‘destruction, not accuracy’!
Israeli propaganda officials are reportedly upset because Yocheved Lifshitz said that she was treated well while she was detained by Hamas in Gaza over the last two weeks. “I’m hearing criticism from sources dealing with Israeli hasbara in recent days. The fact that they allowed Yocheved Lifshitz to make a statement on a live broadcast was a mistake,” Amichai Stein, a journalist with Israel’s state broadcaster Kan, tweeted on Tuesday, 24th October 2023.
Hasbara is the Hebrew word used to describe Israel’s state propaganda efforts.
Hamas says Israel had earlier refused to accept the two women. It is worth noting that Hamas had previously offered to free two additional captives. However, this offer was rebuffed by Israeli authorities, who incredibly referred to the claim as propaganda.
In the meantime, Israel has spread completely unverified atrocity propaganda, including the notorious debunked tale that Hamas fighters beheaded dozens of Jewish babies.
There is growing evidence that many Israeli civilians were killed by Israeli forces who attacked Palestinian fighters and Israeli civilians indiscriminately, causing many of the approximately 1,300 deaths Israel says occurred during the Hamas assault.
The full truth about what happened on or after 7 October could be established by an independent investigation, something Israel is unlikely to ever permit.
As the world watches this brazen massacre continue, with Western democracies cheerleading the slaughter, the Zionists would do well in learning morality from the Gazans.
Over a thousand Palestinians continue to face what is euphemistically called “administrative detention”, a form of captivity where individuals are held without charge or trial.
These prisoners are, in essence, hostages plucked from their families and homes, with no apparent reason for their arrest.
And since 7 October, the number of Palestinian hostages has surged to over 10,000. Stories are emerging, such as that of Omar Daraghmeh, who was beaten to death. The Zionists have used Gaza as the venue to do so without recrimination.
Israel’s barbarous and indiscriminate bombings of Gaza reveals a total disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians.
This includes cutting off access to essential supplies like food, water, fuel, and electricity to Gaza’s 2.3 million residents as part of a relentless campaign of airstrikes, which has left entire neighbourhoods in ruins and pushed humanitarian conditions to the brink.
Hospitals are already out of fuel with doctors resorting to the use of smartphone torches to conduct emergency surgeries and operations. Paediatric unit incubators are also on the brink of collapse, threatening the lives of many babies.
The IDF have indiscriminately targeted civilian shelters protecting refugees and displaced people. Last week, an airstrike targeted the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, killing between 400-500 civilians. Many were children and injured civilians.
A few days after al-Ahli hospital was struck, the IDF targeted the 12th century Greek Orthodox St Porphyrios Church in Gaza City, resulting in the deaths and injuries of many civilians.
The gruesome death toll on Palestinian lives continues to mount, with over 11,000 civilians killed in the latest Israeli onslaught.
In the midst of this ongoing crisis, efforts to secure the release of prisoners of war are a glimmer of hope that signifies the potential for dialogue and peace in the region. The examples of Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Yitzhak are proof that the mainstream media narrative is far from the reality being forced down our throats.
