At a press conference in a Tel Aviv hospital, Yocheved Lifshitz has described her ordeal of being captured by Hamas. She is one of two women returned by Hamas yesterday, the third and fourth of the hostages to be freed. Lifshitz spoke in Hebrew and her daughter translated in English. The former hostage told reporters she had ‘been through hell’ after being captured by Hamas fighters on motorbikes. Lifshitz described being beaten with sticks and forced to walk, but went on to describe conditions in the tunnels, where she had been treated ‘more gently’. The 85-year-old was released with Nurit Cooper, 79. The pair and their husbands were taken from their homes in the Nir Oz kibbutz during Hamas’s rampage on southern Israeli communities on 7 October
Israel and Hamas at war – latest updates
