GNITN – Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 52
2 Day Extension Almost In Place

Two-Day Extension Appears To Happening

As it has always been with these negotiations, an agreement can mean one thing to one side and another thing to the other. If reports are accurate, we are headed to two more days of a ceasefire and two more days of hostage and prisoner releases as we read in The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-and-hamas-agree-to-extend-gaza-truce-by-two-days-say-us-qatar/):

Israel and Hamas agreed to extend a temporary truce in the Gaza Strip by two days on Monday, Qatar and the US confirmed, likely paving the way for the release of some 20 more people held hostage by the Palestinian terror group.

Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said on X on Monday evening that the sides had reached a deal to extend the pause for an additional two days.

The truce was being extended “in order to deliver additional aid into the Strip, and release the largest possible number of hostages and prisoners,” the ministry said.

A White House official confirmed the agreement, but there was no immediate word from Israel.

But Israel hasn’t affirmed that they are onboard just yet:

Later Monday evening, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that an extension to the temporary ceasefire is not final: “We are managing a deal through mediators around the clock. Nothing is final until it actually happens,” he said. “Things are progressing, tonight as well, but patience is required.”

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Hamas had agreed to release 20 hostages over the two days, and that efforts were underway to extend the pause further.

According to some, the hitch is increased violence in the West Bank in Israel, possibly because the prisoners are being released there.

11 More Hostages Released On Day Four

Unless a deal is reached for an extension of the ceasefire, these are the last of the hostages to be turned over to Israel. An additional 20 more could be freed, but that isn’t a done deal. With the release of these hostages, stories of what happened to them are starting to be revealed as we read in a report from i24news.tv (see https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel-at-war/1701111656-survivors-of-hamas-captivity-50-days-in-tunnels-revealed):

In a harrowing tale of endurance, the first hostages freed from 50 days of captivity in the hands of Hamas in Gaza have shared their experiences with doctors at the Wolfson hospital.

Cut off from the world, the hostages survived in tunnels, facing challenges of inadequate food, minimal hygiene, and the psychological toll of their ordeal.

According to a doctor responsible for the freed hostages, they were not mistreated physically but were deprived of essential medicines and proper nutrition.

Their diet mainly consisted of rice, canned chickpeas, legumes, salty cheese with pita, lacking fruits or vegetables. An elderly woman reportedly lost 12 kilograms during the captivity.

As one would think, sleeping wasn’t easy:

The hostages maintained hope by focusing on the prospect of reuniting with their families and believed that Hamas intended to keep them in good physical condition. One hostage, however, grappled with the harsh reality, realizing her home had been destroyed, leading to a constant stream of bad news each day.

The hostages, grouped together in tunnels five floors underground, endured challenging conditions.

For 50 days, they lacked showers but made do with minimal water to clean. Sleep was initially difficult due to tension and fear, prompting the need for sleeping pills, which were rationed to maximize usage.

Hope Was A Rare Commodity

We also discovered how these hostages kept their spirits up in more quotes from 124news.tv article:

Living in close quarters, sleeping side by side in beds, they faced stress and struggled with washing and drying clothes. With only two hours of light per day, they were denied access to writing materials, television, or reading materials due to Hamas' concerns about information transmission.

"What kept them going was the hope of seeing their families again. They also had the feeling that Hamas wanted to keep them in shape. They said the hardest days were those of arrival and departure. Overall, they arrived in fair condition," explained a doctor at Wolfson hospital.

Physically all of these hostages are in stable condition, but the mental scars may take years to overcome as we read in a separate article from The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/irregular-meals-benches-as-beds-details-of-captivity-emerge-as-some-hostages-freed/?utm_source=article_hpsidebar&utm_medium=desktop_site&utm_campaign=liveblog-november-27-2023):

Plastic chairs as beds. Meals of bread and rice. Hours spent waiting for the bathroom. As former hostages return to Israel after seven weeks of Hamas captivity, information about the conditions of their confinement has emerged.

Merav Raviv, whose three relatives were released by Hamas on Friday, said they had been fed irregularly and had eaten mainly rice and bread. She said her cousin and aunt, Keren and Ruthie Munder, had each lost around 7 kilograms (15 pounds) in the seven weeks of their captivity.

Raviv said she’d heard from her freed family members that they had slept on rows of chairs pushed together in a room that looked like a reception area. They said they sometimes had to wait hours before being allowed to go to the bathroom.

Alive, But Homeless

From the same Times article we see good news mixed with bad for one woman:

Adva Adar, the grandchild of 85-year-old released hostage Yaffa Adar, said her grandmother had also lost weight.

“She counted the days of her captivity,” Adar said. “She came back and she said, ‘I know that I’ve been there for 50 days.'”

Adar said that her grandmother was taken captive convinced that her family members were dead, only to emerge to the news that they had survived. Still, her release was bittersweet: She also found out that her house had been ravaged by terrorists.

“For an 85-year-old woman, usually you have your house where you raised your kids, you have your memories, your photo albums, your clothes,” said Adar. “She has nothing, and in her old age she needs to start over. She said that it is tough for her.”

Another hostage talks about living underground with no light for weeks:

The recently freed hostages also appeared to have been held underground. Eyal Nouri, the nephew of Adina Moshe, 72, who was freed on Friday, said his aunt “had to adjust to the sunlight” because she had been in darkness for weeks.

“She was in complete darkness,” said Nouri. “She was walking with her eyes down because she was in a tunnel. She was not used to the daylight. And during her captivity, she was disconnected… from the entire outside world.”

Many didn’t know they were going to be released until the last moment:

Nouri said that Moshe didn’t know that she was going to be released until the last moment.

“Until she saw the Red Cross,” he said. “This is the moment when she realized, okay, these horrifying seven weeks are over.”

Again good news, but lest we forget, these innocent Israelis suffered before they even were abducted:

She emerged to the news that her son’s family had miraculously survived. Her husband Sa’id David Moshe was murdered by terrorists in front of her eyes during the Hamas attack as he tried to defend the couple.

It Will Take Some Time To Heal

Adapting to freedom is a good process as we continue to read in quotes from The Times Of Israel article:

Yair Rotem, whose 12-year-old niece, Hila Rotem Shoshani, was released Sunday, said he had to keep reminding her she didn’t need to whisper.

“They always told them to whisper and stay quiet, so I keep telling her now she can raise her voice,” said Rotem. He added that Hila, who will celebrate her 13th birthday on Monday, slept well during her first night back in Israel and has an appetite.

And that is a good segue to a point that many will most likely forget over time, and that is we cannot be silent about the damage done to these hostages. In America we are 22 years removed from the almost 3,000 people who died on 9/11/2001 and there are people, mostly younger, that are siding with Osama Bin Laden saying those deaths were justified. Are they also thinking these ruthless, evil men who ripped innocent people from their lives by were justified in also killing, raping, and even burning babies to death because the Israeli government treated them badly? Sadly, they are. It is up to us to speak up and speak out and educate those who are willing to listen that however they came to those beliefs, it is a severely flawed view of things. And the subsequent antisemitism that naturally flows from their upside down logic has played out before in history to disastrous results. If people want to act like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, or many of the other dictators in modern history they should know the truth about how things happen if you disagree with them. And they also need to be aware of all the millions who died at their hands and how brainwashed the young became. I for one will not be silent or whisper in response. Now is the time to speak up.