Israel Presents Red Cross With Harrowing Report Detailing Starvation and Abuse of Hostages
Israel’s Health Ministry has presented a report to the International Committee of the Red Cross and international health organizations documenting the conditions endured by 12 hostages held by Hamas from the October 7, 2023, attacks until their release during a ceasefire earlier this year.
The findings describe systematic physical and psychological abuse that the ministry says amounts to torture and grave breaches of international law.
Based on medical examinations, records, and survivor testimony, the report details prolonged confinement in cramped underground tunnels, deprivation of food and clean water, lack of medical care, and ongoing sexual harassment. Hostages were sometimes moved under threat during blindfolded nighttime marches, forced to sleep on bare floors amid extreme heat or cold, and denied basic hygiene for months.
Meals, when provided, often consisted of spoiled bread or rice, accompanied by contaminated water. Many captives suffered from severe weight loss, malnutrition-related illnesses such as scurvy, untreated injuries, and chronic pain from nerve damage. Some developed long-term respiratory issues, skin infections, and other untreated diseases.
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Psychological torment included extended isolation — in some cases over a year — and deliberate humiliation. Captors reportedly manipulated prisoners by showing them food or water and then withholding it.
The ministry warned that the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza face “immediate danger” to their physical and mental health, with each additional day in captivity increasing the risk of irreversible harm. Survivors, it noted, face lengthy rehabilitation with uncertain outcomes and may suffer delayed-onset post-traumatic stress disorder.
The report was released as Israel seeks to maintain international attention on the hostages’ plight, amid ongoing military operations in Gaza and renewed — but fraught — diplomatic efforts to secure their release.
